Defect Engineering: Graphene Gets Designer Defects

An extended one-dimensional defect that has the potential to act as a conducting wire has been embedded in another perfect graphene sheet.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figur

Defect-induced modification of low-lying excitons and valley selectivity in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides

We study the effect of point-defect chalcogen vacancies on the optical properties of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides using ab initio GW and Bethe-Salpeter equation calculations. We find that chalcogen vacancies introduce unoccupied in-gap states and occupied resonant defect states within the quasiparticle continuum of the valence band. These defect states give rise to a number of strongly-bound defect excitons and hybridize with excitons of the pristine system, reducing the valley-selective circular dichroism. Our results suggest a pathway to tune spin-valley polarization and other optical properties through defect engineering

Modification of spintronic terahertz emitter performance through defect engineering

Spintronic ferromagnetic/non-magnetic heterostructures are novel sources for the generation of THz radiation based on spin-to-charge conversion in the layers. The key technological and scientific challenge of THz spintronic emitters is to increase their intensity and frequency bandwidth. Our work reveals the factors to engineer spintronic Terahertz generation by introducing the scattering lifetime and the interface transmission for spin polarized, non-equilibrium electrons. We clarify the influence of the electron-defect scattering lifetime on the spectral shape and the interface transmission on the THz amplitude, and how this is linked to structural defects of bilayer emitters. The results of our study define a roadmap of the properties of emitted as well as detected THz-pulse shapes and spectra that is essential for future applications of metallic spintronic THz emitters.Comment: 33 pages, 13 figure

Topological interface engineering and defect crossing in ultracold atomic gases

We propose an experimentally feasible scheme for topological interface engineering and show how it can be used for studies of dynamics of topologically nontrivial interfaces and perforation of defects and textures across such interfaces. The method makes use of the internal spin structure of the atoms together with locally applied control of interaction strengths to create many-particle states with highly complex topological properties. In particular, we consider a constructed coherent interface between topologically distinct phases of spinor Bose-Einstein condensates.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure

Spin Valve Effect in ZigZag Graphene Nanoribbons by Defect Engineering

We report on the possibility for a spin valve effect driven by edge defect engineering of zigzag graphene nanoribbons. Based on a mean-field spin unrestricted Hubbard model, electronic band structures and conductance profiles are derived, using a self-consistent scheme to include gate-induced charge density. The use of an external gate is found to trigger a semiconductor-metal transition in clean zigzag graphene nanoribbons, whereas it yields a closure of the spin-split bandgap in the presence of Klein edge defects. These features could be exploited to make novel charge and spin based switches and field effect devices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure