31,981 research outputs found
Coulomb blockade in graphene nanoribbons
We propose that recent transport experiments revealing the existence of an
energy gap in graphene nanoribbons may be understood in terms of Coulomb
blockade. Electron interactions play a decisive role at the quantum dots which
form due to the presence of necks arising from the roughness of the graphene
edge. With the average transmission as the only fitting parameter, our theory
shows good agreement with the experimental data.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Zero-energy states and fragmentation of spin in the easy-plane antiferromagnet on a honeycomb lattice
The core of the vortex in the Neel order parameter for an easy-plane
antiferromagnet on honeycomb lattice is demonstrated to bind two zero-energy
states. Remarkably, a single electron occupying this mid-gap band has its spin
fragmented between the two sublattices: Whereas it yields a vanishing total
magnetization it shows a finite Neel order, orthogonal to the one of the
assumed background. The requisite easy-plane anisotropy may be introduced by a
magnetic field parallel to the graphene layer, for example. The results are
relevant for spin-1/2 fermions on graphene's or optical honeycomb lattice, in
the strongly interacting regime.Comment: 4 pages; cosmetic changes; published versio
Electronic compressibility of a graphene bilayer
We calculate the electronic compressibility arising from electron-electron
interactions for a graphene bilayer within the Hartree-Fock approximation. We
show that, due to the chiral nature of the particles in this system, the
compressibility is rather different from those of either the two-dimensional
electron gas or ordinary semiconductors. We find that an inherent competition
between the contributions coming from intra-band exchange interactions
(dominant at low densities) and inter-band interactions (dominant at moderate
densities) leads to a non-monotonic behavior of the compressibility as a
function of carrier density.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Final versio
Bilayer graphene: gap tunability and edge properties
Bilayer graphene -- two coupled single graphene layers stacked as in graphite
-- provides the only known semiconductor with a gap that can be tuned
externally through electric field effect. Here we use a tight binding approach
to study how the gap changes with the applied electric field. Within a parallel
plate capacitor model and taking into account screening of the external field,
we describe real back gated and/or chemically doped bilayer devices. We show
that a gap between zero and midinfrared energies can be induced and externally
tuned in these devices, making bilayer graphene very appealing from the point
of view of applications. However, applications to nanotechnology require
careful treatment of the effect of sample boundaries. This being particularly
true in graphene, where the presence of edge states at zero energy -- the Fermi
level of the undoped system -- has been extensively reported. Here we show that
also bilayer graphene supports surface states localized at zigzag edges. The
presence of two layers, however, allows for a new type of edge state which
shows an enhanced penetration into the bulk and gives rise to band crossing
phenomenon inside the gap of the biased bilayer system.Comment: 8 pages, 3 fugures, Proceedings of the International Conference on
Theoretical Physics: Dubna-Nano200
Elliot-Yafet mechanism in graphene
The differences between spin relaxation in graphene and in other materials
are discussed. For relaxation by scattering processes, the Elliot-Yafet
mechanism, the relation between the spin and the momentum scattering times
acquires a dependence on the carrier density, which is independent of the
scattering mechanism and the relation between mobility and carrier
concentration. This dependence puts severe restrictions on the origin of the
spin relaxation in graphene. The density dependence of the spin relaxation
allows us to distinguish between ordinary impurities and defects which modify
locally the spin-orbit interaction.Comment: 4 pages + \epsilon + S
Fixed Points of the Dissipative Hofstadter Model
The phase diagram of a dissipative particle in a periodic potential and a
magnetic field is studied in the weak barrier limit and in the tight-biding
regime. For the case of half flux per plaquette, and for a wide range of values
of the dissipation, the physics of the model is determined by a non trivial
fixed point. A combination of exact and variational results is used to
characterize this fixed point. Finally, it is also argued that there is an
intermediate energy scale that separates the weak coupling physics from the
tight-binding solution.Comment: 4 pages 3 figure
Conductance quantization in mesoscopic graphene
Using a generalized Landauer approach we study the non-linear transport in
mesoscopic graphene with zig-zag and armchair edges. We find that for clean
systems, the low-bias low-temperature conductance, G, of an armchair edge
system in quantized as G/t=4 n e^2/h, whereas for a zig-zag edge the
quantization changes to G/t t=4(n+1/2)e^2/h, where t is the transmission
probability and n is an integer. We also study the effects of a non-zero bias,
temperature, and magnetic field on the conductance. The magnetic field
dependence of the quantization plateaus in these systems is somewhat different
from the one found in the two-dimensional electron gas due to a different
Landau level quantization.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figures. Final version published in Physical Review
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