Algebraic solution of a graphene layer in a transverse electric and perpendicular magnetic fields

We present an exact algebraic solution of a single graphene plane in transverse electric and perpendicular magnetic fields. The method presented gives both the eigen-values and the eigen-functions of the graphene plane. It is shown that the eigen-states of the problem can be casted in terms of coherent states, which appears in a natural way from the formalism.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Physics Condensed Matte

Conductivity of suspended and non-suspended graphene at finite gate voltage

We compute the DC and the optical conductivity of graphene for finite values of the chemical potential by taking into account the effect of disorder, due to mid-gap states (unitary scatterers) and charged impurities, and the effect of both optical and acoustic phonons. The disorder due to mid-gap states is treated in the coherent potential approximation (CPA, a self-consistent approach based on the Dyson equation), whereas that due to charged impurities is also treated via the Dyson equation, with the self-energy computed using second order perturbation theory. The effect of the phonons is also included via the Dyson equation, with the self energy computed using first order perturbation theory. The self-energy due to phonons is computed both using the bare electronic Green's function and the full electronic Green's function, although we show that the effect of disorder on the phonon-propagator is negligible. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent experiments. Quantitative agreement could be obtained if one assumes water molelcules under the graphene substrate. We also comment on the electron-hole asymmetry observed in the DC conductivity of suspended graphene.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figure

Conductance quantization and transport gap in disordered graphene nanoribbons

We study numerically the effects of edge and bulk disorder on the conductance of graphene nanoribbons. We compute the conductance suppression due to localization induced by edge scattering. We find that even for weak edge roughness, conductance steps are suppressed and transport gaps appear. These gaps are approximately inversely proportional to the nanoribbon width. On/off conductance ratios grow exponentially with the nanoribbon length. Our results impose severe limitations to the use of graphene in ballistic nanowires.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures; references added, typos fixed, to appear in Phys. Rev

Effects of a mixed vector-scalar kink-like potential for spinless particles in two-dimensional spacetime

The intrinsically relativistic problem of spinless particles subject to a general mixing of vector and scalar kink-like potentials ($\sim \mathrm{tanh} ,\gamma x$) is investigated. The problem is mapped into the exactly solvable Surm-Liouville problem with the Rosen-Morse potential and exact bounded solutions for particles and antiparticles are found. The behaviour of the spectrum is discussed in some detail. An apparent paradox concerning the uncertainty principle is solved by recurring to the concept of effective Compton wavelength.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Correlation between the transition temperature and the superfluid density in BCS superconductor NbB_2+x

The results of the muon-spin rotation experiments on BCS superconductors NbB_2+x (x = 0.2, 0.34) are reported. Both samples, studied in the present work, exhibit rather broad transitions to the superconducting state, suggesting a distribution of the volume fractions with different transition temperatures (T_c)'s. By taking these distributions into account, the dependence of the inverse squared zero-temperature magnetic penetration depth (\lambda_0^{-2}) on T_c was reconstructed for temperatures in the range 1.5K<T_c<8.0K. \lambda_0^{-2} was found to obey the power law dependence \lambda_0^{-2}\propto T_c^{3.1(1)} which appears to be common for some families of BCS superconductors as, {\it e.g.}, Al doped MgB_2 and high-temperature cuprate superconductors as underdoped YBa_2Cu_3O_{7-\delta}.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Non-linear excitations in 1D correlated insulators

In this work we investigate charge transport in one-dimensional (1D) insulators via semi-classical and perturbative renormalization group (RG) methods. We consider the problem of electron-electron, electron-phonon and electron-two-level system interactions. We show that non-linear collective modes such as polarons and solitons are reponsible for transport. We find a new excitation in the Mott insulator: the polaronic soliton. We discuss the differences between band and Mott insulators in terms of their spin spectrum and obtain the charge and spin gaps in each one of these systems. We show that electron-electron interactions provide strong renormalizations of the energy scales in the problem.Comment: 29 page

Confined magneto-optical waves in graphene

The electromagnetic mode spectrum of single-layer graphene subjected to a quantizing magnetic field is computed taking into account intraband and interband contributions to the magneto-optical conductivity. We find that a sequence of weakly decaying quasi-transverse-electric modes, separated by magnetoplasmon polariton modes, emerge due to the quantizing magnetic field. The characteristics of these modes are tuneable, by changing the magnetic field or the Fermi energy.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures. published version: text and figures revised and updated + new references and one figure adde