Vortex detection and quantum transport in mesoscopic graphene Josephson-junction arrays

We investigate mesoscopic Josephson junction arrays created by patterning superconducting disks on monolayer graphene, concentrating on the high-$T/T_c$ regime of these devices and the phenomena which contribute to the superconducting glass state in diffusive arrays. We observe features in the magnetoconductance at rational fractions of flux quanta per array unit cell, which we attribute to the formation of flux-quantized vortices. The applied fields at which the features occur are well described by Ginzburg-Landau simulations that take into account the number of unit cells in the array. We find that the mean conductance and universal conductance fluctuations are both enhanced below the critical temperature and field of the superconductor, with greater enhancement away from the graphene Dirac point.This work was financially supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, and an NPL/EPSRC Joint Postdoctoral Partnership (RG61493).This is the accepted manuscript. The final version is available at http://journals.aps.org/prb/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.245418

Band gap engineering in penta-graphene by substitutional doping: first-principles calculations

Using density functional theory, we study the structure, electronic properties and partial charges of a new carbon allotrope-penta-graphene (PG)-substitutionally doped by Si, B and N. We found that the electronic bandgap of PG can be tuned down to 0.2 eV due to carbon substitutions. However, the value of the band gap depends on the type and location of the dopants. For example, the strongest reduction of the band gap is obtained for Si substitutions on the top (bottom) plane of PG, whereas the substitution in the middle plane of PG has a smaller effect on the band gap of the material. Surface termination with fluorine and hydroxyl groups results in an increase of the band gap together with considerable changes in electronic and atomic partial charge distribution in the system. Our findings, which are robust against the use of different exchange- correlation functionals, indicate the possibility of tuning the bandgap of the material to make it suitable for optoelectronic and photovoltaic applications