Radiation effects on the electronic structure of bilayer graphene

We report on the effects of laser illumination on the electronic properties of bilayer graphene. By using Floquet theory combined with Green's functions we unveil the appeareance of laser-induced gaps not only at integer multiples of $\hbar \Omega /2$ but also at the Dirac point with features which are shown to depend strongly on the laser polarization. Trigonal warping corrections are shown to lead to important corrections for radiation in the THz range, reducing the size of the dynamical gaps. Furthermore, our analysis of the topological properties at low energies reveals that when irradiated with linearly polarized light, ideal bilayer graphene behaves as a trivial insulator, whereas circular polarization leads to a non-trivial insulator per valley.Comment: 5 pages 3 figure

Antiresonances as precursors of decoherence

We show that, in presence of a complex spectrum, antiresonances act as a precursor for dephasing enabling the crossover to a fully decoherent transport even within a unitary Hamiltonian description. This general scenario is illustrated here by focusing on a quantum dot coupled to a chaotic cavity containing a finite, but large, number of states using a Hamiltonian formulation. For weak coupling to a chaotic cavity with a sufficiently dense spectrum, the ensuing complex structure of resonances and antiresonances leads to phase randomization under coarse graining in energy. Such phase instabilities and coarse graining are the ingredients for a mechanism producing decoherence and thus irreversibility. For the present simple model one finds a conductance that coincides with the one obtained by adding a ficticious voltage probe within the Landauer-Buettiker picture. This sheds new light on how the microscopic mechanisms that produce phase fluctuations induce decoherence.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Europhys. Let

Crafting zero-bias one-way transport of charge and spin

We explore the electronic structure and transport properties of a metal on top of a (weakly coupled) two-dimensional topological insulator. Unlike the widely studied junctions between topological non-trivial materials, the systems studied here allow for a unique bandstructure and transport steering. First, states on the topological insulator layer may coexist with the gapless bulk and, second, the edge states on one edge can be selectively switched-off, thereby leading to nearly perfect directional transport of charge and spin even in the zero bias limit. We illustrate these phenomena for Bernal stacked bilayer graphene with Haldane or intrinsic spin-orbit terms and a perpendicular bias voltage. This opens a path for realizing directed transport in materials such as van der Waals heterostructures, monolayer and ultrathin topological insulators.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figure

Floquet topological transitions in a driven one-dimensional topological insulator

The Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model of polyacetylene is a paradigmatic Hamiltonian exhibiting non-trivial edge states. By using Floquet theory we study how the spectrum of this one-dimensional topological insulator is affected by a time-dependent potential. In particular, we evidence the competition among different photon-assisted processes and the native topology of the unperturbed Hamiltonian to settle the resulting topology at different driving frequencies. While some regions of the quasienergy spectrum develop new gaps hosting Floquet edge states, the native gap can be dramatically reduced and the original edge states may be destroyed or replaced by new Floquet edge states. Our study is complemented by an analysis of Zak phase applied to the Floquet bands. Besides serving as a simple example for understanding the physics of driven topological phases, our results could find a promising test-ground in cold matter experiments

Enhancing single-parameter quantum charge pumping in carbon-based devices

We present a theoretical study of quantum charge pumping with a single ac gate applied to graphene nanoribbons and carbon nanotubes operating with low resistance contacts. By combining Floquet theory with Green's function formalism, we show that the pumped current can be tuned and enhanced by up to two orders of magnitude by an appropriate choice of device length, gate voltage intensity and driving frequency and amplitude. These results offer a promising alternative for enhancing the pumped currents in these carbon-based devices.Comment: 3.5 pages, 2 figure

Non-Hermitian robust edge states in one-dimension: Anomalous localization and eigenspace condensation at exceptional points

Capital to topological insulators, the bulk-boundary correspondence ties a topological invariant computed from the bulk (extended) states with those at the boundary, which are hence robust to disorder. Here we put forward an ordering unique to non-Hermitian lattices, whereby a pristine system becomes devoid of extended states, a property which turns out to be robust to disorder. This is enabled by a peculiar type of non-Hermitian degeneracy where a macroscopic fraction of the states coalesce at a single point with geometrical multiplicity of $1$, that we call a phenomenal point.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Controlling the conductance and noise of driven carbon-based Fabry-Perot devices

We report on ac transport through carbon nanotube Fabry-Perot devices. We show that tuning the intensity of the ac gating induces an alternation of suppression and partial revival of the conductance interference pattern. For frequencies matching integer multiples of the level spacing of the system $\Delta$ the conductance remains irresponsive to the external field. In contrast, the noise in the low bias voltage limit behaves as in the static case only when the frequency matches an even multiple of the level spacing, thereby highlighting its phase sensitivity in a manifestation of the wagon-wheel effect in the quantum domain.Comment: 3+ pages, 3 figures. Slightly shortened version to appear in Applied Physics Letter

AC transport in carbon-based devices: challenges and perspectives

Time-dependent fields are a valuable tool to control fundamental quantum phenomena in highly coherent low dimensional electron systems. Carbon nanotubes and graphene are a promising ground for these studies. Here we offer a brief overview of driven electronic transport in carbon-based materials with the main focus on carbon nanotubes. Recent results predicting control of the current and noise in nanotube based Fabry-P\'{e}rot devices are highlighted.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, article for C. R. Physique, special issue on carbon nanotube electronic

Spin interference and Fano effect in electron transport through a mesoscopic ring side-coupled with a quantum dot

We investigate the electron transport through a mesoscopic ring side-coupled with a quantum dot(QD) in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit(SO) interaction. It is shown that both the Fano resonance and the spin interference effects play important roles in the electron transport properties. As the QD level is around the Fermi energy, the total conductance shows typical Fano resonance line shape. By applying an electrical gate voltage to the QD, the total transmission through the system can be strongly modulated. By threading the mesoscopic ring with a magnetic flux, the time-reversal symmetry of the system is broken, and a spin polarized current can be obtained even though the incident current is unpolarized.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Floquet bound states around defects and adatoms in graphene

Recent studies have focused on laser-induced gaps in graphene which have been shown to have a topological origin, thereby hosting robust states at the sample edges. While the focus has remained mainly on these topological chiral edge states, the Floquet bound states around defects lack a detailed study. In this paper we present such a study covering large defects of different shape and also vacancy-like defects and adatoms at the dynamical gap at $\hbar\Omega/2$ ($\hbar\Omega$ being the photon energy). Our results, based on analytical calculations as well as numerics for full tight-binding models, show that the bound states are chiral and appear in a number which grows with the defect size. Furthermore, while the bound states exist regardless the type of the defect's edge termination (zigzag, armchair, mixed), the spectrum is strongly dependent on it. In the case of top adatoms, the bound states quasi-energies depend on the adatoms energy. The appearance of such bound states might open the door to the presence of topological effects on the bulk transport properties of dirty graphene.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figure