77 research outputs found
Transport discovery of emerging robust helical surface states in systems
We study the possibility of realizing robust helical surface states in
systems. We find that the combination of anisotropy and finite-size
confinement leads to the emergence of robust helical edge states in both 2D and
3D systems. By investigating an anisotropic Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang model
in a finite sample, we demonstrate that the transport manifestation of the
surface states is robust against non-magnetic disorder, resembling that of a
phase. Notably, the effective energy gap for the robust helical
states can be efficiently engineered, allowing for potential applications as
valley filters and valley valves. The realization of emerging robust helical
surface states in realistic material is also discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. Lett. on Nov. 25. 201
One-dimensional quantum channel in a graphene line defect
Using a tight-binding model, we study a line defect in graphene where a bulk
energy gap is opened by sublattice symmetry breaking. It is found that
sublattice symmetry breaking may induce many configurations that correspond to
different band spectra. In particular, a gapless state is observed for a
configuration which hold a mirror symmetry with respect to the line defect. We
find that this gapless state originates from the line defect and is independent
of the width of the graphene ribbon, the location of the line defect, and the
potentials in the edges of the ribbon. In particular, the gapless state can be
controlled by the gate voltage embedded below the line defect. Finally, this
result is supported with conductance calculations. This study shows how a
quantum channel could be constructed using a line defect, and how the quantum
channel can be controlled by tuning the gate voltage embedded below the line
defect.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure
Topological Imbert-Fedorov shift in Weyl semimetals
The Goos-H\"anchen (GH) shift and the Imbert-Fedorov (IF) shift are optical
phenomena which describe the longitudinal and transverse lateral shifts at the
reflection interface, respectively. Here, we report the GH and IF shifts in
Weyl semimetals (WSMs) - a promising material harboring low energy Weyl
fermions, a massless fermionic cousin of photons. Our results show that GH
shift in WSMs is valley-independent which is analogous to that discovered in a
2D relativistic material - graphene. However, the IF shift has never been
explored in non-optical systems, and here we show that it is valley-dependent.
Furthermore, we find that the IF shift actually originates from the topological
effect of the system. Experimentally, the topological IF shift can be utilized
to characterize the Weyl semimetals, design valleytronic devices of high
efficiency, and measure the Berry curvature
Disorder induced field effect transistor in bilayer and trilayer graphene
We propose use of disorder to produce a field effect transistor (FET) in
biased bilayer and trilayer graphene. Modulation of the bias voltage can
produce large variations in the conductance when the disorder's effects are
confined to only one of the graphene layers. This effect is based on the bias
voltage's ability to select which of the graphene layers carries current, and
is not tied to the presence of a gap in the density of states. In particular,
we demonstrate this effect in models of gapless ABA-stacked trilayer graphene,
gapped ABC-stacked trilayer graphene, and gapped bilayer graphene.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure
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