A method to extract pure Raman spectrum of epitaxial graphene on SiC

A method is proposed to extract pure Raman spectrum of epitaxial graphene on SiC by using a Non-negative Matrix Factorization. It overcomes problems of negative spectral intensity and poorly resolved spectra resulting from a simple subtraction of a SiC background from the experimental data. We also show that the method is similar to deconvolution, for spectra composed of multiple sub- micrometer areas, with the advantage that no prior information on the impulse response functions is needed. We have used this property to characterize the Raman laser beam. The method capability in efficient data smoothing is also demonstrated.Comment: 3 figures, regular pape

Magnetic Enhancement in Cobalt-Manganese Alloy Clusters

Magnetic moments of CoNMnM and CoNVM clusters (N ≤ 60; M ≤ N/3) are measured in molecular beams using the Stern-Gerlach deflection method. Surprisingly, the per atom average moments of CoNMnM clusters are found to increase with Mn concentration, in contrast to bulk CoMn. The enhancement with Mn doping is found to be independent of cluster size and composition in the size range studied. Meanwhile, CoNVM clusters show reduction of average moments with increasing V doping, consistent with what is expected in bulk CoV. The results are discussed within the virtual bound states model

Observation of Resistively Detected Hole Spin Resonance and Zero-Field Pseudo-Spin Splitting in Epitaxial Graphene

Electronic carriers in graphene show a high carrier mobility at room temperature. Thus, this system is widely viewed as a potential future charge-based high-speed electronic material to complement–or replace–silicon. At the same time, the spin properties of graphene have suggested improved capability for spin-based electronics or spintronics and spin-based quantum computing. As a result, the detection, characterization and transport of spin have become topics of interest in graphene. Here we report a microwave photo-excited transport study of monolayer and trilayer graphene that reveals an unexpectedly strong microwave-induced electrical response and dual microwave-induced resonances in the dc resistance. The results suggest the resistive detection of spin resonance, and provide a measurement of the g-factor, the spin relaxation time and the sub-lattice degeneracy splitting at zero magnetic field

SU(4) symmetry breaking revealed by magneto-optical spectroscopy in epitaxial graphene

Refined infrared magnetotransmission experiments have been performed in magnetic fields B up to 35 T on a series of multilayer epitaxial graphene samples. Following the main optical transition involving the n=0 Landau level (LL), we observe a new absorption transition increasing in intensity with magnetic fields B>26 T. Our analysis shows that this is a signature of the breaking of the SU(4) symmetry of the n=0 LL. Using a quantitative model, we show that the only symmetry-breaking scheme consistent with our experiments is a charge density wave (CDW)

Probing terahertz surface plasmon waves in graphene structures

Epitaxial graphene mesas and ribbons are investigated using terahertz (THz) nearfield microscopy to probe surface plasmon excitation and THz transmission properties on the sub-wavelength scale. The THz near-field images show variation of graphene properties on a scale smaller than the wavelength, and excitation of THz surface waves occurring at graphene edges, similar to that observed at metallic edges. The Fresnel reflection at the substrate SiC/air interface is also found to be altered by the presence of graphene ribbon arrays, leading to either reduced or enhanced transmission of the THz wave depending on the wave polarization and the ribbon width.Comment: accepted for publication in Applied Physics Lette

Approaching the Dirac point in high mobility multi-layer epitaxial graphene

Multi-layer epitaxial graphene (MEG) is investigated using far infrared (FIR) transmission experiments in the different limits of low magnetic fields and high temperatures. The cyclotron-resonance like absorption is observed at low temperature in magnetic fields below 50 mT, allowing thus to probe the nearest vicinity of the Dirac point and to estimate the conductivity in nearly undoped graphene. The carrier mobility is found to exceed 250,000 cm$^2$/(V.s). In the limit of high temperatures, the well-defined Landau level (LL) quantization is observed up to room temperature at magnetic fields below 1 T, a phenomenon unique in solid state systems. A negligible increase in the width of the cyclotron resonance lines with increasing temperature indicates that no important scattering mechanism is thermally activated, supporting recent expectations of high room-temperature mobilities in graphene.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Anisotropy of excitation and relaxation of photogenerated Dirac electrons in graphene

We investigate the polarization dependence of the carrier excitation and relaxation in epitaxial multilayer graphene. Degenerate pump-probe experiments with a temporal resolution of 30 fs are performed for different rotation angles of the pump-pulse polarization with respect to the polarization of the probe pulse. A pronounced dependence of the pump-induced transmission on this angle is found. It reflects a strong anisotropy of the pump-induced occupation of photogenerated carriers in momentum space even though the band structure is isotropic. Within 150 fs after excitation an isotropic carrier distribution is established. Our observations imply the predominant role of collinear scattering preserving the initially optically generated anisotropy in the carrier distribution. The experiments are well described by microscopic time-, momentum, and angle-resolved modelling, which allows us to unambiguously identify non-collinear carrier-phonon scattering to be the main relaxation mechanism giving rise to an isotropic distribution in the first hundred fs after optical excitation.Comment: Submitted to Nano Letter

Symmetry-breaking supercollisions in Landau-quantized graphene

Recent pump-probe experiments performed on graphene in a perpendicular magnetic field have revealed carrier relaxation times ranging from picoseconds to nanoseconds depending on the quality of the sample. To explain this surprising behavior, we propose a novel symmetry-breaking defect-assisted relaxation channel. This enables scattering of electrons with single out-of-plane phonons, which drastically accelerate the carrier scattering time in low-quality samples. The gained insights provide a strategy for tuning the carrier relaxation time in graphene and related materials by orders of magnitude

Ultrahard carbon film from epitaxial two-layer graphene

Atomically thin graphene exhibits fascinating mechanical properties, although its hardness and transverse stiffness are inferior to those of diamond. To date, there hasn't been any practical demonstration of the transformation of multi-layer graphene into diamond-like ultra-hard structures. Here we show that at room temperature and after nano-indentation, two-layer graphene on SiC(0001) exhibits a transverse stiffness and hardness comparable to diamond, resisting to perforation with a diamond indenter, and showing a reversible drop in electrical conductivity upon indentation. Density functional theory calculations suggest that upon compression, the two-layer graphene film transforms into a diamond-like film, producing both elastic deformations and sp2-to-sp3 chemical changes. Experiments and calculations show that this reversible phase change is not observed for a single buffer layer on SiC or graphene films thicker than 3 to 5 layers. Indeed, calculations show that whereas in two-layer graphene layer-stacking configuration controls the conformation of the diamond-like film, in a multilayer film it hinders the phase transformation.Comment: Published online on Nature Nanotechnology on December 18, 201

Nanoscale tunable reduction of graphene oxide for graphene electronics

International audienceGraphene is now recognized as the most likely carbon-based successor material for CMOS electronics. Recently, interest in graphene oxide (GO) has risen for producing large-scale flexible conductors and for its potential to open an electronic gap in graphene structures. We report on a means to tune the topographical and electrical properties of graphene-based materials with nanoscopic resolution by local thermal reduction of GO with a nano-size tip. The reduced GO nanostructures show an increase in conductivity up to four orders of magnitude as compared to pristine GO. No sign of tip wear or sample tearing was observed. Variably conductive nanoribbons with dimensions down to 12 nm have been produced in oxidized epitaxial graphene films in a single step that is clean, rapid and reliable