Abnormal electronic transport in disordered graphene nanoribbon

We investigate the conductivity σ of graphene nanoribbons with zigzag edges as a function of Fermi energy E_F in the presence of the impurities with different potential range. The dependence of σ(E_F) displays four different types of behavior, classified to different regimes of length scales decided by the impurity potential range and its density. Particularly, low density of long range impurities results in an extremely low conductance compared to the ballistic value, a linear dependence of σ(E_F) and a wide dip near the Dirac point, due to the special properties of long range potential and edge states. These behaviors agree well with the results from a recent experiment by Miao et al. [Science 317 (2007) 1530 (SOM)].     

Quantum transport in double-gated graphene devices

Double-gated graphene devices provide an important platform for understanding electrical and optical properties of graphene. Here we present transport measurements of single layer, bilayer and trilayer graphene devices with suspended top gates. In zero magnetic fields, we observe formation of pnp junctions with tunable polarity and charge densities, as well as a tunable band gap in bilayer graphene and a tunable band overlap in trilayer graphene. In high magnetic fields, the devices’ conductance are quantized at integer and fractional values of conductance quantum, and the data are in good agreement with a model based on edge state equilibration at pn interfaces.     

Quantum transport in dynamically disordered continuum tight binding systems

We consider the continuum limit of three distinct models describing tightly bound electron systems in one dimension. The first model is the usual tight binding hamiltonian for monatomic lattices with nearest-neighbour hopping between sites. The second model describes a two-subband tight binding system involving two different atoms per unit cell. Finally, the third model represents a monatomic system with two energy levels per atomic site and different nearest-neighbour hopping parameters for hopping between equivalent and non-equivalent levels. The continuum limits of these models result in field-theoretic hamiltonians showing similarities with the Dirac hamiltonian. Assuming the different types of site energies to be dynamically disordered with gaussian whitenoise spectra, we calculate exactly the quantum mechanical mean square displacement <x ²(t)>. Due to the use of Novikov's theorem for the evaluation of configuration averages our analysis for the two-band models is restricted to the degenerate case, where the average positions of the two types of atomic levels coincide. Fort we find coherent motion, <x ²(t)>t ², for the one-band model and disorder induced diffusive contributions for the two-band models. However, for the two-level atomic model the diffusive term is dominated by at ²-term describing coherent hopping between equivalent levels. These findings are discussed in relation to previous results for both discrete and continuum models.     

Quantum transport equations for vibrating isotopically disordered crystals

A transport equation approach is developed for the linear response of the electron-phonon system in a vibrating isotopically disordered crystal to a frequency dependent electric field. The smallness of the mutual differences of the various masses is taken into account to derive a microscopic set of equations for the phonon and electron distribution functions. Applying an appropriate averaging technique, we obtain a set of equations from which the relevant macroscopic transport equation and hence physical quantities, such as the electrical conductivity, may be derived.     

Critical wavefunctions in disordered graphene

In order to elucidate the presence of non-localized states in doped graphene, a scaling analysis of the wavefunction moments, known as inverse participation ratios, is performed. The model used is a tight-binding Hamiltonian considering nearest and next-nearest neighbors with random substitutional impurities. Our findings indicate the presence of non-normalizable wavefunctions that follow a critical (power-law) decay, which show a behavior intermediate between those of metals and insulators. The power-law exponent distribution is robust against the inclusion of next-nearest neighbors and growing the system size.     

Conductance of disordered graphene sheets: A real space approach

In this work the conducting properties of graphene lattice (buckled as well as planar) having different concentrations of defects are studied with the help of real space block recursion method introduced by Haydock et al. Since the defects are completely random, reciprocal space based methods which need artificial periodicity are not applicable here. Different resonant states appear because of the presence of topological and local defects which are calculated within the framework of Green function. Except random voids, in all other density of states (DOS) spectra there are signatures of Breit–Wigner and Fano resonance at occupied and unoccupied regime respectively. Although Fano resonance states are not prominent for graphene with random voids, however Stone–Wales (SW) type defect can naturally introduce their resonance states. The appearance of localized states depends strongly on the concentration of defects.     

Inhomogenous electronic structure, transport gap, and percolation threshold in disordered bilayer graphene

The inhomogenous real-space electronic structure of gapless and gapped disordered bilayer graphene is calculated in the presence of quenched charge impurities. For gapped bilayer graphene, we find that for current experimental conditions the amplitude of the fluctuations of the screened disorder potential is of the order of (or often larger than) the intrinsic gap Δ induced by the application of a perpendicular electric field. We calculate the crossover chemical potential Δ(cr), separating the insulating regime from a percolative regime in which less than half of the area of the bilayer graphene sample is insulating. We find that most of the current experiments are in the percolative regime with Δ(cr)?Δ. The huge suppression of Δ(cr) compared with Δ provides a possible explanation for the large difference between the theoretical band gap Δ and the experimentally extracted transport gap.     

Silicene on substrates:A theoretical perspective

Silicene, as the silicon analog of graphene, is successfully fabricated by epitaxially growing it on various substrates.Like free-standing graphene, free-standing silicene possesses a honeycomb structure and Dirac-cone-shaped energy band,resulting in many fascinating properties such as high carrier mobility, quantum spin Hall effect, quantum anomalous Hall effect, and quantum valley Hall effect. The existence of the honeycomb crystal structure and the Dirac cone of silicene is crucial for observation of its intrinsic properties. In this review, we systematically discuss the substrate effects on the atomic structure and electronic properties of silicene from a theoretical point of view, especially with emphasis on the changes of the Dirac cone.     

Spin relaxation times in disordered graphene

We consider two mechanisms of spin relaxation in disordered graphene. i) Spin relaxation due to curvature spin orbit coupling caused by ripples. ii) Spin relaxation due to the interaction of the electronic spin with localized magnetic moments at the edges. We obtain analytical expressions for the spin relaxation times τ_SO and τ_J due to both mechanisms and estimate their values for realistic parameters of graphene samples. We obtain that spin relaxation originating from these mechanisms is very weak and spin coherence is expected in disordered graphene up to samples of length .     

Quantum transport from the perspective of quantum open systems

By viewing the non-equilibrium transport setup as a quantum open system, we propose a reduced-density-matrix based quantum transport formalism. At the level of self-consistent Born approximation, it can precisely account for the correlation between tunneling and the system internal many-body interaction, leading to certain novel behavior such as the non-equilibrium Kondo effect. It also opens a new way to construct time-dependent density functional theory for transport through large-scale complex systems.     

石墨烯的量子电容

量子电容在半导体纳米材料和器件中是一个日趋重要的参数,测量和提取石墨烯的量子电容,不仅可以得到石墨烯的重要物理性质,而且对石墨烯晶体管的尺寸缩减行为具有重要指导意义.文章中采用简单工艺在石墨烯上制备出均匀超薄的高质量Y2O3栅介质,其等效栅氧厚度(EOT)可缩减至1.5nm,通过控制栅介质厚度的变化,精确测量并提取了石墨烯量子电容,其电容值在远离狄拉克点时与理论计算相符合;在此基础上,文章作者提出了基于电势涨落的量子电容微观模型,通过采用单一参数——电势涨落δV,可以定量地描述Dirac点附近的量子电容行为,从而在全能量范围内实现对石墨烯量子电容测量值的完美拟合,并得到了石墨烯的相关重要参数.进而,作者从量子电容的角度,探索了石墨烯晶体管的性能极限,并比较其相对于Ⅲ-Ⅴ族场效应晶体管的潜在优势.     

Low-energy theory of disordered graphene

At low values of external doping, graphene displays a wealth of unconventional transport properties. Perhaps most strikingly, it supports a robust "metallic" regime, with universal conductance of the order of the conductance quantum. We here apply a combination of mean-field and bosonization methods to explore the large scale transport properties of the system. We find that, irrespective of the doping level, disordered graphene is subject to the common mechanisms of Anderson localization. However, at low doping a number of renormalization mechanisms conspire to protect the conductivity of the system, to an extend that strong localization may not be seen even at temperatures much smaller than those underlying present experimental work.     

Remarks on theoretical modelling of spin-dependent electronic transport in carbon nanotubes and graphene

This contribution reports on charge and spin transport through graphene nanoribbons (GrNs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs). The paper focuses on the giant magnetoresistance effect in these materials, and their potential usefulness for spintronic applications. As examples, the following devices are shortly discussed: GrNs in the ballistic transport regime, a CNT-based Schottky-barrier field effect transistor (CNT SB-FET), as well as CNT quantum dots in the Coulomb blockade limit.     

Quantum dots in graphene

We suggest a way of confining quasiparticles by an external potential in a small region of a graphene strip. Transversal electron motion plays a crucial role in this confinement. Properties of thus obtained graphene quantum dots are investigated theoretically for different types of the boundary conditions at the edges of the strip. The (quasi)bound states exist in all systems considered. At the same time, the dependence of the conductance on the gate voltage carries information about the shape of the edges.     

Electronic heat capacity in disordered graphene systems

We analyzed the electronic heat capacity of graphene systems in the presence of disorder. We consider the case of strong scatterers, working in the unitary limit. The temperature dependence of the electronic heat capacity is analyzed. Close to the clean limit we obtained the quadratic temperature dependence, corrected with a temperature and disorder dependent factor which slightly enhance the heat capacity. At very low temperatures, and in the presence of disorder, we obtained a linear temperature dependence of the electronic heat capacity. We also analyzed the temperature dependence of the electronic heat capacity in the case of extrinsic graphene.     

Magnetism in disordered graphene and irradiated graphite

The magnetic properties of disordered graphene and irradiated graphite are systematically studied using a combination of mean-field Hubbard model and first-principles calculations. By considering large-scale disordered models of graphene, I conclude that only single-atom defects can induce ferromagnetism in graphene-based materials. The preserved stacking order of graphene layers is shown to be another necessary condition for achieving a finite net magnetic moment of irradiated graphite. Ab initio calculations of hydrogen binding and diffusion and of interstitial-vacancy recombination further confirm the crucial role of stacking order in pi-electron ferromagnetism of proton-bombarded graphite.