Dirac model of electronic transport in graphene antidot barriers

In order to use graphene for semiconductor applications, such as transistors with high on/off ratios, a band gap must be introduced into this otherwise semimetallic material. A promising method of achieving a band gap is by introducing nanoscale perforations (antidots) in a periodic pattern, known as a graphene antidot lattice (GAL). A graphene antidot barrier (GAB) can be made by introducing a 1D GAL strip in an otherwise pristine sheet of graphene. In this paper, we will use the Dirac equation (DE) with a spatially varying mass term to calculate the electronic transport through such structures. Our approach is much more general than previous attempts to use the Dirac equation to calculate scattering of Dirac electrons on antidots. The advantage of using the DE is that the computational time is scale invariant and our method may therefore be used to calculate properties of arbitrarily large structures. We show that the results of our Dirac model are in quantitative agreement with tight-binding for hexagonal antidots with armchair edges. Furthermore, for a wide range of structures, we verify that a relatively narrow GAB, with only a few antidots in the unit cell, is sufficient to give rise to a transport gap

Electronic and optical properties of graphene antidot lattices: Comparison of Dirac and tight-binding models

The electronic properties of graphene may be changed from semimetallic to semiconducting by introducing perforations (antidots) in a periodic pattern. The properties of such graphene antidot lattices (GALs) have previously been studied using atomistic models, which are very time consuming for large structures. We present a continuum model that uses the Dirac equation (DE) to describe the electronic and optical properties of GALs. The advantages of the Dirac model are that the calculation time does not depend on the size of the structures and that the results are scalable. In addition, an approximation of the band gap using the DE is presented. The Dirac model is compared with nearest-neighbour tight-binding (TB) in order to assess its accuracy. Extended zigzag regions give rise to localized edge states, whereas armchair edges do not. We find that the Dirac model is in quantitative agreement with TB for GALs without edge states, but deviates for antidots with large zigzag regions.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by Journal of Physics: Condensed matte

Resolving Range Conflict in Nevada? Buyouts and Other Compensation Alternatives

To mitigate adverse effects on ranchers from reduced access to public forage, financial or other forms of ‘compensation’ may be required. In this paper, we use results from a survey of Nevada ranchers to examine ranchers’ willingness to sell grazing permits and participate in other schemes that enable them to continue ranching in spite of declining access to public forage. On average ranchers demand $255 per AUM to sell grazing permits, while support for other programs, some of which are performance based, depends on whether respondents trust public agencies and intend to pass their ranch on to an heir.Compensation for grazing rights, environmental services, range economics

Scaling behavior of spin transport in hydrogenated graphene

We calculate the spin transport of hydrogenated graphene using the Landauer-B\"uttiker formalism with a spin-dependent tight-binding Hamiltonian. The advantages of using this method is that it simultaneously gives information on sheet resistance and localization length as well as spin relaxation length. Furthermore, the Landauer-B\"uttiker formula can be computed very efficiently using the recursive Green's function technique. Previous theoretical results on spin relaxation time in hydrogenated graphene have not been in agreement with experiments. Here, we study magnetic defects in graphene with randomly aligned magnetic moments, where interference between spin-channels is explicitly included. We show that the spin relaxation length and sheet resistance scale nearly linearly with the impurity concentration. Moreover, the spin relaxation mechanism in hydrogenated graphene is Markovian only near the charge neutrality point or in the highly dilute impurity limit

Electronic and phononic Raman scattering in detwinned YBa2_2Cu3_3O6.95_{6.95} and Y0.85_{0.85}Ca0.15_{0.15}Ba2_2Cu3_3O6.95_{6.95}: s-wave admixture to the dx2−y2d_{x^2-y^2}-wave order parameter

Inelastic light (Raman) scattering has been used to study electronic excitations and phonon anomalies in detwinned, slightly overdoped YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.95}$ and moderately overdoped Y$_{0.85}$Ca$_{0.15}$Ba$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{6.95}$ single crystals. In both samples modifications of the electronic pair-breaking peaks when interchanging the a- and b-axis were observed. The lineshapes of several phonon modes involving plane and apical oxygen vibrations exhibit pronounced anisotropies with respect to the incident and scattered light field configurations. Based on a theoretical model that takes both electronic and phononic contributions to the Raman spectra into account, we attribute the anisotropy of the superconductivity-induced changes in the phonon lineshapes to a small s-wave admixture to the $d_{x^2-y^2}$ pair wave-function. Our theory allows us to disentangle the electronic Raman signal from the phononic part and to identify corresponding interference terms. We argue that the Raman spectra are consistent with an s-wave admixture with an upper limit of 20 percent.Comment: accepted in Phys. Rev. B, 11 page

Social Dilemmas and Public Range Management: Results from the Nevada Ranch Survey

Since the late 1960s, the Nevada ranch community has come under increasing pressure from environmental groups regarding their use of public lands for livestock grazing, thus increasing tension between ranchers and public land managers and potentially reducing the social capital that facilitates action and cooperation in range management. In this paper, we use responses to a survey of all public grazing permit holders in Nevada to investigate the changing relationships between ranchers and the public land agencies, and its potential implications. In particular, we investigate factors that affect ranchers’ trust in the public land agencies, and then factors that influence the nature of the relationship between ranchers and the Bureau of Land Management and U.S. Forest Service. Low levels of trust between ranchers and public managers were most significantly related to previous disagreements and the belief in a poor future for ranching. The occurrence of wildfire on grazing land contributed most signifcantly to increased disagreement between ranchers and public agencies. Finally, as a response to conflict in the ranch community, community based initiatives, such as grass banking, are examined for their potential to bring stakeholders together to realize and address common goals. Community involvement in decision making may increase levels of social capital, reduce transaction costs, and thus allow for more effective and efficient use of the range resources.Institutions and social capital, effectiveness of range management policies

INITIAL APPLICATIONS OF FUZZY SET PROCEDURES FOR ESTIMATION OF EXPORT BASE EMPLOYMENT

Current export base methods that calculate basic and non-basic employment are too restrictive because they fail to account for uncertainty involved in the process. This paper shows the assignment of industries as either basic or non-basic by the location quotient procedure does not consistently represent the data for Nevada counties. Using fuzzy set procedures and membership functions in conjunction with the location quotient allow more flexibility in terms of matching the data for each industry in the region of interest. Using fuzzy set procedures we determine the proportion of employment that is basic and non-basic in nine non-governmental industries.Labor and Human Capital,

Ab initio calculations of edge-functionalized armchair graphene nanoribbons: Structural, electronic, and vibrational effects

We present a theoretical study on narrow armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs) with hydroxyl functionalized edges. Although this kind of passivation strongly affects the structure of the ribbon, a high degree of edge functionalization proves to be particularly stable. An important consequence of the geometric deviations is a severe reduction of the band-gap of the investigated 7-AGNR. This shift follows a linear dependence on the number of added hydroxyl groups per unit cell and thus offers the prospect of a tunable band-gap by edge functionalization. We furthermore cover the behavior of characteristic phonons for the ribbon itself as well as fingerprint modes of the hydroxyl groups. A large down-shift of prominent Raman active modes allows the experimental determination of the degree of edge functionalization.Comment: 6 pages, 9 figure

Is my ODE a Painleve equation in disguise?

Painleve equations belong to the class y'' + a_1 {y'}^3 + 3 a_2 {y'}^2 + 3 a_3 y' + a_4 = 0, where a_i=a_i(x,y). This class of equations is invariant under the general point transformation x=Phi(X,Y), y=Psi(X,Y) and it is therefore very difficult to find out whether two equations in this class are related. We describe R. Liouville's theory of invariants that can be used to construct invariant characteristic expressions (syzygies), and in particular present such a characterization for Painleve equations I-IV.Comment: 8 pages. Based on talks presented at NEEDS 2000, Gokova, Turkey, 29 June - 7 July, 2000, and at the AMS-HKMS joint meeting 13-16 December, 2000. Submitted to J. Nonlin. Math. Phy

Electronic Raman scattering of Tl-2223 and the symmetry of the supercon- ducting gap

Single crystalline Tl2Ba2Ca2Cu3O10 was studied using electronic Raman scattering. The renormalization of the scattering continuum was investigated as a function of the scattering geometry to determine the superconducting energy gap 2Delta(k). The A1g- and B2g-symmetry component show a linear frequency behaviour of the scattering intensity with a peak related to the energy gap, while the B1g-symmetry component shows a characteristic behaviour at higher frequencies. The observed frequency dependencies are consistent with a dx^2-y^2-wave symmetry of the gap and yield a ratio of 2Delta/k_BT_c=7.4. With the polarization of the scattered and incident light either parallel or perpendicular to the CuO2-planes a strong anisotropy due to the layered structure was detected, which indicates an almost 2 dimensional behaviour of this system.Comment: 2 pages, Postscript-file including 2 figures. Accepted for publication in the Proceedings of the M^2SHTSC IV Conference, Grenoble (France), 5-9 July 1994. Proceedings to be published in Physica C. Contact address: [email protected]