• Accepted Paper

Probing topology in thin films with quantum Sondheimer oscillations

Léo Mangeolle and Johannes Knolle

Phys. Rev. B - Accepted 11 September, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/l1gl-xdvv

Abstract

Sondheimer oscillations (SO) are magnetoresistance oscillations occurring in thin films due to the commensurability between cyclotron motion and sample thickness, and are traditionally regarded as a purely semiclassical size effect. Here we develop a general quantum theory of SO for thin-film conductors in the quantum limit of a large magnetic field. We show that corrections arising from band topology modify the SO frequency, in contrast to Shubnikov–de Haas oscillations where topological information appears only in the phase. As a consequence, quantum SO provide a direct and robust probe of the full Landau level spectrum. Applying our framework to a minimal model with tunable Berry phase, we demonstrate how topology manifests itself in experimentally accessible magneto-oscillation spectra and discuss damping mechanisms including surface roughness.

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