Manifestations of phase-coherent transport in graphene

The electronic transport properties of graphene exhibit pronounced differences from those of conventional two dimensional electron systems investigated in the past. As a consequence, well established phenomena such as the integer quantum Hall effect and weak localization manifest themselves differently in graphene. Here we present an overview of recent experiments that we have performed to probe phase coherent transport. In particular, we have investigated in great detail Josephson supercurrent and superconducting proximity effect in junctions consisting of a graphene layer in between superconducting electrodes. We have also used the same devices to measure aperiodic conductance fluctuations and weak localization. The experimental results clearly indicate that low-temperature transport in graphene is phase coherent on a ∼ 1μm length scale, irrespective of the position of the Fermi level. We discuss the different behavior of Josephson supercurrent and weak localization in terms of the unusual properties of the electronic states in graphene upon time reversal symmetry.     

Kondo effect in the presence of magnetic impurities

We measure transport through gold grain quantum dots fabricated using electromigration, with magnetic impurities in the leads. A Kondo interaction is observed between dot and leads, but the presence of magnetic impurities results in a gate-dependent zero-bias conductance peak that is split due to a RKKY interaction between the spin of the dot and the static spins of the impurities. A magnetic field restores the single Kondo peak in the case of an antiferromagnetic RKKY interaction. This system provides a new platform to study Kondo and RKKY interactions in metals at the level of a single spin.     

Electron transport through single Mn12 molecular magnets

We report transport measurements through a single-molecule magnet, the Mn12 derivative [Mn12O12(O2C-C6H4-SAc)16(H2O)4], in a single-molecule transistor geometry. Thiol groups connect the molecule to gold electrodes that are fabricated by electromigration. Striking observations are regions of complete current suppression and excitations of negative differential conductance on the energy scale of the anisotropy barrier of the molecule. Transport calculations, taking into account the high-spin ground state and magnetic excitations of the molecule, reveal a blocking mechanism of the current involving nondegenerate spin multiplets.     

荧光寿命的快速傅里叶变换拟合方法

介绍了一种利用快速傅里叶变换算法对稀土掺杂物质的荧光寿命进行数据拟合的方法。稀土掺杂物质可用来制备多种光学传感器,用于温度、pH值等多种参量测量领域。本方法利用快速傅里叶变换(FFT)结果作为基础,从非零项的相位角的正切值得出被测的荧光寿命,具有速度快、误差小、不受本底干扰等一系列优点。以掺铒光纤为例,通过数字仿真将本方法与其它几种传统的拟合方法进行了比较。快速傅里叶变换方法的测量偏差不到Prony方法的50％,为对数似合(log-fit)方法测量偏差的1／6。另外,快速傅里叶变换方法由于不受本底噪声影响,可以不必在信号处理时去掉本底噪声,因而可以明显缩短测量时间。