The muon magnetic moment and new physics

The impact of the muon magnetic moment measurement on physics beyond the Standard Model is briefly reviewed. Particular emphasis is given on the case of supersymmetry. The sensitivity of g ? 2 to supersymmetry parameters and the potential for model discrimination and parameter measurements is described. The interplay between LHC data on the Higgs boson, limits on new particles, and g ? 2 is discussed.     

Quantum transport in topological semimetals under magnetic fields

Topological semimetals are three-dimensional topological states of matter, in which the conduction and valence bands touch at a finite number of points, i.e., the Weyl nodes. Topological semimetals host paired monopoles and antimonopoles of Berry curvature at the Weyl nodes and topologically protected Fermi arcs at certain surfaces. We review our recent works on quantum transport in topological semimetals, according to the strength of the magnetic field. At weak magnetic fields, there are competitions between the positive magnetoresistivity induced by the weak anti-localization effect and negative magnetoresistivity related to the nontrivial Berry curvature. We propose a fitting formula for the magnetoconductivity of the weak anti-localization. We expect that the weak localization may be induced by inter-valley effects and interaction effect, and occur in double-Weyl semimetals. For the negative magnetoresistance induced by the nontrivial Berry curvature in topological semimetals, we show the dependence of the negative magnetoresistance on the carrier density. At strong magnetic fields, specifically, in the quantum limit, the magnetoconductivity depends on the type and range of the scattering potential of disorder. The high-field positive magnetoconductivity may not be a compelling signature of the chiral anomaly. For long-range Gaussian scattering potential and half filling, the magnetoconductivity can be linear in the quantum limit. A minimal conductivity is found at the Weyl nodes although the density of states vanishes there.     

磁场中拓扑物态的量子输运

拓扑物态包括拓扑绝缘体、拓扑半金属以及拓扑超导体.拓扑物态奇异的能带结构以及受拓扑保护的新奇表面态,使其具有了独特的输运性质.拓扑半金属作为物质的一种三维拓扑态具有无能隙的准粒子激发,根据导带和价带的接触类型分为外尔半金属、狄拉克半金属和节线半金属.本文以拓扑半金属为主回顾了在磁场下拓扑物态中量子输运的最新工作,在不同...     

Valley filtering due to orbital magnetic moment in bilayer graphene

We investigate the effect of valley-dependent orbital magnetic moment on the transmission of quasiparticles through biased bilayer graphene npn and pnp junctions in the presence of out-of-plane magnetic field. It is shown that the valley-polarized Zeeman-like energy splitting, due to the interaction of orbital magnetic moment with magnetic field, can suppress the transmission of quasiparticles of one valley while transmitting those of the other valley. This valley-selective transmission property can be exploited for valley filtering. We demonstrate that the npn and pnp junction, respectively, filters off the $K^{\prime }$-valley and K-valley particles, with nearly perfect degree of filtration.     

Magnetic moment of phonons in graphene induced by a magnetic field

A magnetic field not only changes the electronic structure in graphene but also affects the phonon excitations via the electron-phonon interaction and even enables the phonons to generate magnetism. In this paper, we evaluate the magnetic moment of phonons in graphene using a generating-functional technique. The calculation results indicate that the phonon magnetic moment exists only in a weak magnetic field. The step-like change of the magnetic moment with the magnetic field reflects a macroscopic quantum effect.     

Quantum transport in topological semimetals under magnetic fields (II)

Research about two-dimensional (2D) materials is growing exponentially across various scientific and engineering disciplines due to the wealth of unusual physical phenomena that occur when charge transport is confined to a plane. The applications of 2D materials are highly affected by the electrical properties of these materials, including current distribution, surface potential, dielectric response, conductivity, permittivity, and piezoelectric response. Hence, it is very crucial to characterize these properties at the nanoscale. The Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM)-based techniques are powerful tools that can simultaneously characterize morphology and electrical properties of 2D materials with high spatial resolution, thus being more and more extensively used in this research field. Here, the principles of these AFM techniques are reviewed in detail. After that, their representative applications are further demonstrated in the local characterization of various 2D materials’ electrical properties.

     

Two-dimensional topological insulator state and topological phase transition in bilayer graphene

We show that gated bilayer graphene hosts a strong topological insulator (TI) phase in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit (SO) coupling. We find that gated bilayer graphene under preserved time-reversal symmetry is a quantum valley Hall insulator for small Rashba SO coupling λ(R), and transitions to a strong TI when λ(R)>√[U(2)+t(⊥)(2)], where U and t(⊥) are, respectively, the interlayer potential and tunneling energy. Different from a conventional quantum spin Hall state, the edge modes of our strong TI phase exhibit both spin and valley filtering, and thus share the properties of both quantum spin Hall and quantum valley Hall insulators. The strong TI phase remains robust in the presence of weak graphene intrinsic SO coupling.     

三角形石墨烯量子点阵列的磁电子学特性和磁输运性质

基于密度泛函理论的第一性原理计算方法,研究了三角形石墨烯纳米片用不同连接方式拼接而成的四种一维量子点阵列(1D QDAs)的磁电子学性质和磁输运性质.结合能计算表明所有1D QDAs是非常稳定的.特别是研究发现1D QDAs的电子和磁性质不仅依赖于磁性态,也明显依赖于连接方式,如在无磁态时,不同量子点阵列(QDAs)可为金属或窄带隙半导体.在铁磁态时,不同QDAs能为半金属(half-metal)或带隙不同的双极化磁性半导体.而在反铁磁态时,不同QDAs为带隙不等的半导体.这些结果意味着连接方式对有效调控纳米结构电子和磁性质扮演重要的角色.1D QDAs呈现的半金属或双极化磁性半导体性质对于发展磁器件是非常重要的,而这些性质未曾在本征石墨烯纳米带中出现.同时,我们也研究了一种阵列的磁器件特性,发现其拥有完美的(100%)单或双自旋过滤效应,尤其是呈现超过109%的巨磁阻效应.     

First principle study of edge topological defect-modulated electronic and magnetic properties in zigzag graphene nanoribbons

Zigzag graphene nanoribbon(ZGNR) is a promising candidate for next-generation spintronic devices. Development of the field requires potential systems with variable and adjustable electromagnetic properties. Here we show a detailed investigation of ZGNR decorated with edge topological defects(ED-ZGNR) synthesized in laboratory by Ruffieux in 2015[Pascal Ruffieux, Shiyong Wang, Bo Yang, et al. 2015 Nature 531 489]. The pristine ED-ZGNR in the ground state is an antiferromagnetic semiconductor, and the acquired band structure is significantly changed compared with that of perfect ZGNR. After doping heteroatoms on the edge, the breaking of degeneration of band structure makes the doped ribbon a half-semi-metal, and nonzero magnetic moments are induced. Our results indicate the tunable electronic and magnetic properties of ZGNR by deriving unique edge state from topological defect, which opens a new route to practical nano devices based on ZGNR.     

Manifestations of topological effects in graphene

Graphene is a monoatomic layer of graphite with carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice configuration. It has been known for more than 60 years that the electronic structure of graphene can be modelled by two-dimensional massless relativistic fermions. This property gives rise to numerous applications, both in applied sciences and in theoretical physics. Electronic circuits made out of graphene could take advantage of its high electron mobility that is witnessed even at room temperature. In the theoretical domain the Dirac-like behaviour of graphene can simulate high energy effects, such as the relativistic Klein paradox. Even more surprisingly, topological effects can be encoded in graphene such as the generation of vortices, charge fractionalisation and the emergence of anyons. The impact of the topological effects on graphene's electronic properties can be elegantly described by the Atiyah–Singer index theorem. Here we present a pedagogical encounter of this theorem and review its various applications to graphene. A direct consequence of the index theorem is charge fractionalisation that is usually known from the fractional quantum Hall effect. The charge fractionalisation gives rise to the exciting possibility of realising graphene based anyons that unlike bosons or fermions exhibit fractional statistics. Besides being of theoretical interest, anyons are a strong candidate for performing error free quantum information processing.     

Formation of topological domain walls and quantum transport properties of zero-line modes in commensurate bilayer graphene systems

We study theoretically the construction of topological conducting domain walls with a finite width between AB/BA stacking regions via finite element method in bilayer graphene systems with tunable commensurate twisting angles. We find that the smaller is the twisting angle, the more significant the lattice reconstruction would be, so that sharper domain boundaries declare their existence. We subsequently study the quantum transport properties of topological zero-line modes which can exist because of the said domain boundaries via Green’s function method and Landauer−Büttiker formalism, and find that in scattering regions with tri-intersectional conducting channels, topological zero-line modes both exhibit robust behavior exemplified as the saturated total transmissionG_tot ≈ 2e²/h and obey a specific pseudospin-conserving current partition law among the branch transport channels. The former property is unaffected by Aharonov−Bohm effect due to a weak perpendicular magnetic field, but the latter is not. Results from our genuine bilayer hexagonal system suggest a twisting angle aroundθ ≈ 0.1° for those properties to be expected, consistent with the existing experimental reports.     

Coulomb screening in graphene with topological defects

We analyze the screening of an external Coulomb charge in gapless graphene cone, which is taken as a prototype of a topological defect. In the subcritical regime, the induced charge is calculated using both the Green’s function and the Friedel sum rule. The dependence of the polarization charge on the Coulomb strength obtained from the Green’s function clearly shows the effect of the conical defect and indicates that the critical charge itself depends on the sample topology. Similar analysis using the Friedel sum rule indicates that the two results agree for low values of the Coulomb charge but differ for the higher strengths, especially in the presence of the conical defect. For a given subcritical charge, the transport cross-section has a higher value in the presence of the conical defect. In the supercritical regime we show that the coefficient of the power law tail of polarization charge density can be expressed as a summation of functions which vary log periodically with the distance from the Coulomb impurity. The period of variation depends on the conical defect. In the presence of the conical defect, the Fano resonances begin to appear in the transport cross-section for a lower value of the Coulomb charge. For both sub and supercritical regime we derive the dependence of LDOS on the conical defect. The effects of generalized boundary condition on the physical observables are also discussed.     

On magnetic moment and magnetic induction

An attempt is made to introduce the concept of magnetic moment and magnetic induction directly from observed mechanical interactions between magnets, without bringing in the idealized notion of isolated magnetic poles.     

Mott physics and topological phase transition in correlated dirac fermions

We investigate the interplay between the strong correlation and the spin-orbit coupling in the Kane-Mele-Hubbard model and obtain the qualitative phase diagram via the variational cluster approach. We identify, through an increase of the Hubbard U, the transition from the topological band insulator to either the spin liquid phase or the easy-plane antiferromagnetic insulating phase, depending on the strength of the spin-orbit coupling. A nontrivial evolution of the bulk bands in the topological quantum phase transition is also demonstrated.     

磁场及磁矩的测量实验

对地磁水平分量测量实验加以改进,将其扩充为能够测量亥姆霍兹线圈磁场分布和磁针的转动惯量以及磁针磁矩的实验.使其成为一个综合性较强,适用于开展研究性实验的项目.     

Thermal transport in graphene

The recent advances in graphene isolation and synthesis methods have enabled potential applications of graphene in nanoelectronics and thermal management, and have offered a unique opportunity for investigation of phonon transport in two-dimensional materials. In this review, current understanding of phonon transport in graphene is discussed along with associated experimental and theoretical investigation techniques. Several theories and experiments have suggested that the absence of interlayer phonon scattering in suspended monolayer graphene can result in higher intrinsic basal plane thermal conductivity than that for graphite. However, accurate experimental thermal conductivity data of clean suspended graphene at different temperatures are still lacking. It is now known that contact of graphene with an amorphous solid or organic matrix can suppress phonon transport in graphene, although further efforts are needed to better quantify the relative roles of interface roughness scattering and phonon leakage across the interface and to examine the effects of other support materials. Moreover, opportunities remain to verify competing theories regarding mode specific scattering mechanisms and contributions to the total thermal conductivity of suspended and supported graphene, especially regarding the contribution from the flexural phonons. Several measurements have yielded consistent interface thermal conductance values between graphene and different dielectrics and metals. A challenge has remained in establishing a comprehensive theoretical model of coupled phonon and electron transport across the highly anisotropic and dissimilar interface.     

Landau levels in graphene layers with topological defects

In this work, we study the low-energy electronic spectrum of a graphene layer structure with a disclination in the presence of a magnetic field. We make this study using the continuum approach, where we use the geometric theory of topological defects to introduce a disclination in a graphene layer, and the electrons are described by the massless Dirac equation in this curved background. The bound states energy spectrum and eigenfunctions are also obtained and an explicit dependence was found on the parameter that characterizes the topological defect and on the magnetic field.     

Non-spherical magnetic moment in MnAlGe

The magnetic structure factors of MnAlGe (space groupP4/nmm) measured with polarised neutrons have been expressed in terms of the magnetic moment of the Mn atom (site symmetry tetrahedral with tetragonal distortion), the Bessel transforms 〈j _n〉 of the Mn radial functions and the fractional occupancies of the moment density in the various crystal field orbitals. The measured structure factors were least-squares fitted with the theoretical expression involving 〈j _n〉 appropriate to the Mn⁰, Mn⁺ and Mn²⁺ atoms. The best fit was got using Mn⁰ transforms, yielding 1·45µ _B as the Mn magnetic moment. The fractional occupancies of the moment density in the crystal field orbitalsA _1g,B _1g E _g andB _2g were obtained. This analysis shows the magnetic moment to be highly non-spherical with a large fractional occupancy (38%) in theA _1g orbital directed along the tetragonal axis while the fractional occupancies ofB _1g andB _2g are found to be 31% and 30% respectively. The fractional occupancy of the moment in theE _g orbital directed towards the Ge and Al atoms is very low (1%). The spatially averaged moment density of Mn in MnAlGe is more diffuse than that of Mn I and Mn II in isostructural Mn₂Sb.