Suppression of magnetotransport in strongly disordered graphene

A tight-binding model with randomly fluctuating atomic positions is studied to discuss the effect of strong disorder in graphene. We employ a strong-disorder expansion for the transport quantities and find a diffusive behavior, where the conductivity is decreasing with increasing disorder. For sufficiently strong disorder the magnetic field drops out of the diffusion coefficient and the conductivity. This signals a strong suppression of magnetotransport effects, a result which is consistent with recent experimental observations by Morozov et al.     

Magnetic barriers and confinement of Dirac-Weyl quasiparticles in graphene

We discuss the properties of the two-dimensional massless Dirac-Weyl quasiparticles realized in graphene monolayers in the presence of inhomogeneous magnetic fields. We show that in contrast to electrostatic barriers, appropriate magnetic barriers are able to confine these quasiparticles. This allows for a novel way of designing mesoscopic structures (e.g., quantum dots, quantum point contacts) in graphene.     

Enhanced gas sensing performance of polyaniline incorporated with graphene: A first-principles study

Conducting polymers such as polyaniline (PANI) are potential sensing materials for ammonia due to their fast response and low cost, however, the corresponding sensing mechanism needs to be studied further. In this paper, molecular dynamic and first-principles simulations are carried out to investigate ammonia sensing mechanisms of polyaniline/graphene heterostructure. The adsorption of ammonia at different locations of pure polyaniline and graphene/PANI composites is analyzed. The band gap for graphene/PANI system shows more significant change after adsorption than that of pure polyaniline, which indicates higher sensitivity for detecting ammonia, and the results of sorption isotherm imply that graphene/PANI system exhibits more adsorption capacity for ammonia. Moreover, diffusion coefficient of ammonia in polyaniline/graphene system is much large than that of pure polyaniline, demonstrating that gas diffusion occurs more easily in the heterostructure. The results are verified by experimental data, and the proposed computational frame can be used to evaluate and design nanocomposite materials for gas sensor.     

Resonant tunneling through double-barrier structures on graphene

Quantum resonant tunneling behaviors of double-barrier structures on graphene are investigated under the tightbinding approximation. The Klein tunneling and resonant tunneling are demonstrated for the quasiparticles with energy close to the Dirac points. The Klein tunneling vanishes by increasing the height of the potential barriers to more than 300 meV. The Dirac transport properties continuously change to the Schro¨dinger ones. It is found that the peaks of resonant tunneling approximate to the eigen-levels of graphene nanoribbons under appropriate boundary conditions. A comparison between the zigzag- and armchair-edge barriers is given.     

The low energy electronic band structure of bilayer graphene

We employ the tight binding model to describe the electronic band structure of bilayer graphene and we explain how the optical absorption coefficient of a bilayer is influenced by the presence and dispersion of the electronic bands, in contrast to the featureless absorption coefficient of monolayer graphene. We show that the effective low energy Hamiltonian is dominated by chiral quasiparticles with a parabolic dispersion and Berry phase 2π. Layer asymmetry produces a gap in the spectrum but, by comparing the charging energy with the single particle energy, we demonstrate that an undoped, gapless bilayer is stable with respect to the spontaneous opening of a gap. Then, we describe the control of a gap in the presence of an external gate voltage. Finally, we take into account the influence of trigonal warping which produces a Lifshitz transition at very low energy, breaking the isoenergetic line about each valley into four pockets.     

Universal critical exponent in class D superconductors

We study a physical system consisting of noninteracting quasiparticles in disordered superconductors that have neither time-reversal nor spin-rotation invariance. This system belongs to class D within the recent classification scheme of random matrix ensembles, and its phase diagram contains three different phases: metallic and two distinct localized phases with different quantized thermal Hall conductances. We find that critical exponents describing different transitions (insulator-to-insulator and insulator-to-metal) are identical within the error of numerical calculations and also find that critical disorder of the insulator-to-metal transition is energy-independent.     

Electromagnetic-field-induced suppression of transport through n-p junctions in graphene

We study electronic transport through an n-p junction in graphene irradiated by an electromagnetic field (EF). In the absence of EF one may expect the perfect transmission of quasiparticles flowing perpendicular to the junction. We show that the resonant interaction of propagating quasiparticles with the EF induces a dynamic gap between electron and hole bands in the quasiparticle spectrum of graphene. In this case the strongly suppressed quasiparticle transmission is only possible due to interband tunneling. The effect may be used to control transport properties of diverse structures in graphene, e.g., n-p-n transistors and quantum dots, by variation of the intensity and frequency of the external radiation.     

Gate-voltage control of oxygen diffusion on graphene

We analyze the diffusion of oxygen atoms on graphene and its dependence on the carrier density controlled by a gate voltage. We use density functional theory to determine the equilibrium adsorption sites, the transition state, and the attempt frequency for different carrier densities. The ease of diffusion is strongly dependent on carrier density. For neutral graphene, we calculate a barrier of 0.73 eV; however, upon electron doping the barrier decreases almost linearly to reach values as low as 0.15 eV for densities of -7.6×10(13) cm(-2). This implies an increase of more than 9 orders of magnitude in the diffusion coefficient at room temperature. This dramatic change is due to a combined effect of bonding reduction in the equilibrium state and bonding increase at the transition state and can be used to control the patterning of oxidized regions by an adequate variation of the gate voltage.     

Long-wavelength local density of states oscillations near graphene step edges

Using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy, we have studied the local density of states (LDOS) of graphene over step edges in boron nitride. Long-wavelength oscillations in the LDOS are observed with maxima parallel to the step edge. Their wavelength and amplitude are controlled by the energy of the quasiparticles allowing a direct probe of the graphene dispersion relation. We also observe a faster decay of the LDOS oscillations away from the step edge than in conventional metals. This is due to the chiral nature of the Dirac fermions in graphene.     

石墨烯气凝胶复合相变材料的热物性研究

相变材料利用其相变潜热能力可吸收储存和释放利用热量,同时在相变过程中其温度浮动小,能够实现温度控制从而用于热管理.但是其低热导率和易泄露问题严重制约了其性能.石墨烯气凝胶因其丰富的多孔结构而具有较大的比表面积,可吸附相变材料解决其泄露问题,同时石墨烯的高导热系数可提高相变材料的热导率.这里选取正十八烷为相变材料,制备了不同质量分数的石墨烯气凝胶复合相变材料.测得石墨烯气凝胶含量为13.99 wt%的样品,其导热系数比纯正十八烷高出306.2%,熔化潜热和凝固潜热分别下降了13.8%和10.8%.分子动力学模拟结果表明,石墨烯气凝胶的引入会在一定程度上增强正十八烷分子的有序性和一致性,即在同一温度下复合相变材料中的正十八烷分子比纯正十八烷分子拥有更集中分布的末端距和扭转角,径向分布函数和自扩散系数都相对较低,说明石墨烯材料的引入可以提升正十八烷的导热系数.     

双层石墨烯材料中无序导致超导-绝缘体相变的数值研究

本文利用一种新的数值方法研究了在较大的双层石墨烯样品中杂质的无序 效应对超导态特性的影响. 采用核多项式方法 (Kernel Polynomial Method) 来自洽求解双层石墨烯系统的Bogoliubov-de-Gennes (BdG) 方程, 从而得到了由无序效应所引起的超导序参量的空间涨落精确解. 进一步, 计算了系统处于超导态时的态密度、光电导和广义逆参与率 (inverse participation ratio) 等物理量, 并发现随着无序强度的不断增大态密度中的能隙被 完全抑制, 同时光电导的Drude权重也迅速减小并最终降为零, 这表明双层石墨烯中的低能电子态发生了安德森局域化, 系统因而发生了由无序效应诱导的超导-绝缘体相变. 关键词： 双层石墨烯 安德森局域化 超导-绝缘体相变 核多项式方法     

Quasiparticle scattering by quantum phase slips in one-dimensional superfluids

Quantum phase slips (QPS) in narrow superfluid channels generate momentum by unwinding the supercurrent. In a uniform Bose gas, this momentum needs to be absorbed by quasiparticles (phonons). We show that this requirement results in an additional exponential suppression of the QPS rate (compared to the rate of QPS induced by a sharply localized perturbation). In BCS-paired fluids, momentum can be transferred to fermionic quasiparticles, and we find an interesting interplay between quasiparticle scattering on QPS and on disorder.     

Electrical conductivity and diffusion coefficient of electrons in a graphene bilayer

The electron diffusion coefficient and the electrical conductivity of a graphene bilayer in an external electric field with a strength vector directed along the graphene sheet are calculated theoretically. The evolution of the electron system is simulated using the Boltzmann kinetic equation in the relaxation-time semi-classical approximation. Analytic expressions are obtained for the electron diffusion coefficient and the electrical conductivity, and the nonlinear dependences of these quantities on the electric field are established. The dependences of these quantities on the control electrostatic potential between graphene layers are analyzed.     

Quasiparticle conductivities in disordered d-wave superconductors

We study the quasiparticle transport coefficients in disordered d-wave superconductors. We find that spin and charge excitations are generally localized unless magnetic impurities are present. If the system is close to a nesting point in the impurity-scattering unitary limit, the tendency towards localization is reduced while the quasiparticle density of states gets enhanced by disorder. We also show that the residual repulsive interaction among quasiparticles has a delocalizing effect and increases the density of states.     

Effective interactions in dilute mixtures of3He in4He

Nonlocal pseudopotentials which describe the effective interaction between³He quasiparticles, and between these quasiparticles and the background⁴He liquid, are obtained as a function of concentration and pressure by generalizing the Aldrich-Pines pseudopotentials for pure³He and⁴He to dilute mixtures. The hierarchy of physical effects which determine these pseudopotentials is established. Interaction-induced short-range correlations are the dominant physical feature; next in order of importance is the greater zero point motion associated with the replacement of a⁴He atom by a³He atom, while spin-induced Pauli principle correlations play a significantly smaller, albeit still important role. We find a consistent trend in the change of the effective direct quasiparticle interactions with increasing concentration, and show how the Aldrich-Pines pseudopotentials for pure³He quasiparticles represent a natural extension of our results for dilute mixtures. Our calculated nonlocal pseudopotential for³He quasiparticles is qualitatively similar to that proposed by Bardeen, Baym, and Pines; it changes sign at somewhat lower momentum transfers than the BBP result, varies little with concentration, and provides a physical basis for understanding the BBP result. The effective interaction between quasiparticles of parallel spin, here determined for the first time, is essentially repulsive in the very dilute limit; as the concentration increases, it becomes increasingly attractive at low momentum transfers, and resembles closely that between antiparallel spin quasiparticles at 5% concentration. The concentration-dependent transport properties calculated from these pseudopotentials (which involve only one phenomenological parameter) are in good agreement with experiment at saturated vapor pressure (SVP), 10 atm, and 20 atm. Maxima in the thermal conductivity and spin diffusion are predicted to occur at concetrations somewhat less than 4%. Because the effective quasiparticle interactions are somewhat more repulsive than those previously proposed, we find the transition of the³He quasiparticles to the superfluid state takes place at significantly lower temperatures than many previous estimates; our predicted maximum superfluid transition temperature is 2×10^–8 K (for a 0.6% mixture at 20 atm).     

Scattering of charge carriers in graphene induced by topological defects

We study the scattering of graphene quasiparticles by topological defects, represented by holes, pentagons and heptagons. For holes, we found that at low concentration they give a negligible contribution to the resistivity. Whenever pentagons or heptagons are introduced we realize that a fermionic current is scattered by defects.     

Comments on the effect of disorder on transport with intermediate degree of coherence: Calculation of the mean square displacement

We use the generalized master equation with a simple exponential memory but with disorder in its spatial dependence to analyze the combined effect of coherence and randomness on the transport of quasiparticles. We calculate the mean-square-displacement and find that it retains well-known properties in the presence of randomness.Supported by NSF grant no. DMR-7919539     

Graphene valley filter using a line defect

With its two degenerate valleys at the Fermi level, the band structure of graphene provides the opportunity to develop unconventional electronic applications. Herein, we show that electron and hole quasiparticles in graphene can be filtered according to which valley they occupy without the need to introduce confinement. The proposed valley filter is based on scattering off a recently observed line defect in graphene. Quantum transport calculations show that the line defect is semitransparent and that quasiparticles arriving at the line defect with a high angle of incidence are transmitted with a valley polarization near 100%.