Quantum Hall states near the charge-neutral Dirac point in graphene

We investigate the quantum Hall (QH) states near the charge-neutral Dirac point of a high mobility graphene sample in high magnetic fields. We find that the QH states at filling factors nu=+/-1 depend only on the perpendicular component of the field with respect to the graphene plane, indicating that they are not spin related. A nonlinear magnetic field dependence of the activation energy gap at filling factor nu=1 suggests a many-body origin. We therefore propose that the nu=0 and +/-1 states arise from the lifting of the spin and sublattice degeneracy of the n=0 Landau level, respectively.     

Spontaneous parity breaking of graphene in the Quantum Hall regime

We propose that the inversion symmetry of the graphene honeycomb lattice is spontaneously broken via a magnetic-field-dependent Peierls distortion. This leads to valley splitting of the n=0 Landau level but not of the other Landau levels. Compared to Quantum Hall valley ferromagnetism recently discussed in the literature, lattice distortion provides an alternative explanation to all of the currently observed Quantum Hall plateaus in graphene.     

Carrier scattering from dynamical magnetoconductivity in quasineutral epitaxial graphene

The energy dependence of the electronic scattering time is probed by Landau level spectroscopy in quasineutral multilayer epitaxial graphene. From the broadening of overlapping Landau levels we find that the scattering rate 1/τ increases linearly with energy ?. This implies a surprising property of the Landau level spectrum in graphene-the number of resolved Landau levels remains constant with the applied magnetic field. Insights are given about possible scattering mechanisms and carrier mobilities in the graphene system investigated.     

Lattice relaxation of graphene under high magnetic field

We investigate the n = 0 Landau level (LL) in monolayer graphene with high magnetic field. We find that the energy gap is opened in the n = 0 LL by the magnetic-field-dependent lattice relaxation originating from the interactions between the electrons (holes) and longitudinal-deformation-acoustic phonon. Both the linear and square-foot dependence of the energy gap on the magnetic field are obtained depending on the choice of the Debye cut-off wave number for the acoustic phonon. The relations of the Huang-Rhys parameter (lattice relaxation strength) and the transition linewidths with the magnetic field are also discussed. Our results agree with the current experiments on graphene in high magnetic field, and provide an alternative explanation for the experimental measurements.     

Direct measurement of the Fermi energy in graphene using a double-layer heterostructure

We describe a technique which allows a direct measurement of the relative Fermi energy in an electron system by employing a double-layer heterostructure. We illustrate this method by using a graphene double layer to probe the Fermi energy as a function of carrier density in monolayer graphene, at zero and in high magnetic fields. This technique allows us to determine the Fermi velocity, Landau level spacing, and Landau level broadening. We find that the N=0 Landau level broadening is larger by comparison to the broadening of upper and lower Landau levels.     

Fractional quantum Hall States of Dirac electrons in graphene

We have investigated the fractional quantum Hall states of Dirac electrons in a graphene layer in different Landau levels. The relativistic nature of the energy dispersion relation of electrons in graphene significantly modifies the interelectron interactions. This results in a specific dependence of the ground state energy and the energy gaps for electrons on the Landau-level index. For the valley-polarized states, i.e., at nu=1/m, m being an odd integer, the energy gaps have the largest values in the n=1 Landau level. For the valley-unpolarized states, e.g., for the 2/3 state, the energy gaps are suppressed for n=1 as compared to those at n=0. For both n=1 and n=0, the ground state of the 2/3 system is fully valley-unpolarized.     

Transport through graphene on SrTiO3

We report transport measurements through graphene on SrTiO(3) substrates as a function of magnetic field B, carrier density n, and temperature T. The large dielectric constant of SrTiO(3) very effectively screens long-range electron-electron interactions and potential fluctuations, making Dirac electrons in graphene virtually noninteracting. The absence of interactions results in an unexpected behavior of the longitudinal resistance in the N=0 Landau level and in a large suppression of the transport gap in nanoribbons. The "bulk" transport properties of graphene at B=0 T, on the contrary, are completely unaffected by the substrate dielectric constant.     

Unconventional integer quantum Hall effect in graphene

Monolayer graphite films, or graphene, have quasiparticle excitations that can be described by (2+1)-dimensional Dirac theory. We demonstrate that this produces an unconventional form of the quantized Hall conductivity sigma(xy) = -(2e2/h)(2n+1) with n = 0, 1, ..., which notably distinguishes graphene from other materials where the integer quantum Hall effect was observed. This unconventional quantization is caused by the quantum anomaly of the n=0 Landau level and was discovered in recent experiments on ultrathin graphite films.     

The enigma of the quantum Hall effect in graphene

We apply Laughlin’s gauge argument to analyze the ν=0 quantum Hall effect observed in graphene when the Fermi energy lies near the Dirac point, and conclude that this necessarily leads to divergent bulk longitudinal resistivity in the zero temperature thermodynamic limit. We further predict that in a Corbino geometry measurement, where edge transport and other mesoscopic effects are unimportant, one should find the longitudinal conductivity vanishing in all graphene samples which have an underlying ν=0 quantized Hall effect. We argue that this ν=0 graphene quantum Hall state is qualitatively similar to the high field insulating phase (also known as the Hall insulator) in the lowest Landau level of ordinary semiconductor two-dimensional electron systems. We establish the necessity of having a high magnetic field and high mobility samples for the observation of the divergent resistivity as arising from the existence of disorder-induced density inhomogeneity at the graphene Dirac point.     

Landau-level splitting in graphene in high magnetic fields

The quantum Hall (QH) effect in two-dimensional electrons and holes in high quality graphene samples is studied in strong magnetic fields up to 45 T. QH plateaus at filling factors nu = 0, +/-1, +/-4 are discovered at magnetic fields B > 20 T, indicating the lifting of the fourfold degeneracy of the previously observed QH states at nu = +/-4(absolute value(n) + 1/2), where n is the Landau-level index. In particular, the presence of the nu = 0, +/-1 QH plateaus indicates that the Landau level at the charge neutral Dirac point splits into four sublevels, lifting sublattice and spin degeneracy. The QH effect at nu = +/-4 is investigated in a tilted magnetic field and can be attributed to lifting of the spin degeneracy of the n = 1 Landau level.     

Landau levels in graphene in the presence of emergent gravity

We consider graphene in the presence of external magnetic field and elastic deformations that cause emergent magnetic field. The total magnetic field results in the appearance of Landau levels in the spectrum of quasiparticles. In addition, the quasiparticles in graphene experience the emergent gravity. We consider the particular choice of elastic deformation, which gives constant emergent magnetic field and vanishing torsion. Emergent gravity may be considered as perturbation. We demonstrate that the corresponding first order approximation affects the energies of the Landau levels only through the constant renormalization of Fermi velocity. The degeneracy of each Landau level receives correction, which depends essentially on the geometry of the sample. There is the limiting case of the considered elastic deformation, that corresponds to the uniformly stretched graphene. In this case in the presence of the external magnetic field the degeneracies of the Landau levels remain unchanged.     

Spontaneously gapped ground state in suspended bilayer graphene

Bilayer graphene bears an eightfold degeneracy due to spin, valley, and layer symmetry, allowing for a wealth of broken symmetry states induced by magnetic or electric fields, by strain, or even spontaneously by interaction. We study the electrical transport in clean current annealed suspended bilayer graphene. We find two kinds of devices. In bilayers of type B1 the eightfold zero-energy Landau level is partially lifted above a threshold field revealing an insulating ν=0 quantum-Hall state at the charge neutrality point. In bilayers of type B2 the Landau level lifting is full and a gap appears in the differential conductance even at zero magnetic field, suggesting an insulating spontaneously broken symmetry state. Unlike B1, the minimum conductance in B2 is not exponentially suppressed, but remains finite with a value G is < or approximately equall to e(2)/h even in a large magnetic field. We suggest that this phase of B2 is insulating in the bulk and bound by compressible edge states.     

Electron-electron interaction in the magnetoresistance of graphene

We investigate the magnetotransport in large area graphene Hall bars epitaxially grown on silicon carbide. In the intermediate field regime between weak localization and Landau quantization, the observed temperature-dependent parabolic magnetoresistivity is a manifestation of the electron-electron interaction. We can consistently describe the data with a model for diffusive (magneto)transport that also includes magnetic-field-dependent effects originating from ballistic time scales. We find an excellent agreement between the experimentally observed temperature dependence of magnetoresistivity and the theory of electron-electron interaction in the diffusive regime. We can further assign a temperature-driven crossover to the reduction of the multiplet modes contributing to electron-electron interaction from 7 to 3 due to intervalley scattering. In addition, we find a temperature-independent ballistic contribution to the magnetoresistivity in classically strong magnetic fields.     

Quantum-Hall activation gaps in graphene

We have measured the quantum-Hall activation gaps in graphene at filling factors nu=2 and nu=6 for magnetic fields up to 32 T and temperatures from 4 to 300 K. The nu=6 gap can be described by thermal excitation to broadened Landau levels with a width of 400 K. In contrast, the gap measured at nu=2 is strongly temperature and field dependent and approaches the expected value for sharp Landau levels for fields B>20 T and temperatures T>100 K. We explain this surprising behavior by a narrowing of the lowest Landau level.     

点缺陷扶手型石墨烯量子点的电子性质研究

基于有限差分方法, 数值求解了Dirac方程, 研究了垂直磁场下的点缺陷扶手型 石墨烯 量子点的能谱结构, 分析了尺寸大小对带隙的影响. 与无磁场时具有一定带隙 (带隙的大小与半径成反比) 的量子点相比, 在外加有限磁场下, 能谱中出现朗道能级, 最低朗道能级能量为零并与磁场强度无关, 并且朗道能级的简并度随着磁场的增加而增加. 进一步的计算表明, 最低朗道能级的简并度与磁场成线性关系, 与半径的平方成线性关系. 本文工作对基于石墨烯量子点的器件设计具有一定的指导意义.     

Scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy of graphene layers on graphite

We report low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy on graphene flakes supported on a graphite substrate. The experiments demonstrate that graphite is exceptionally well suited as a substrate for graphene because it offers support without disturbing the intrinsic properties of the charge carriers. The degree of coupling of a graphene flake to the substrate was recognized and characterized from the appearance of an anomalous Landau level sequence in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. By following the evolution of the Landau level spectra along the surface, we identified graphene flakes that are decoupled or very weakly coupled to the substrate. From the Landau level sequence in this flake, we extract the local Fermi velocity and energy of the Dirac point and find extremely weak spatial variation of these quantities confirming the high quality and non invasive nature of the graphite substrate.     

Gap opening in the zeroth Landau level in gapped graphene: pseudo-Zeeman splitting in an angular magnetic field

We present a theoretical study of gap opening in the zeroth Landau level in gapped graphene as a result of pseudo-Zeeman interaction. The applied magnetic field couples with the valley pseudospin degree of freedom of the charge carriers leading to the pseudo-Zeeman interaction. To investigate its role in transport at the charge neutrality point (CNP), we study the integer quantum Hall effect in gapped graphene in an angular magnetic field in the presence of pseudo-Zeeman interaction. Analytical expressions are derived for the Hall conductivity using the Kubo-Greenwood formula. We also determine the longitudinal conductivity for elastic impurity scattering in the first Born approximation. We show that pseudo-Zeeman splitting leads to a minimum in the collisional conductivity at high magnetic fields and a zero plateau in the Hall conductivity. Evidence for activated transport at CNP is found from the temperature dependence of the collisional conductivity.     

Unusual microwave response of dirac quasiparticles in graphene

Recent experiments have proven that the quasiparticles in graphene obey a Dirac equation. Here we show that microwaves are an excellent probe of their unusual dynamics. When the chemical potential is small, the intraband response can exhibit a cusp around zero frequency Omega and this unusual line shape changes to Drude-like by increasing the chemical potential |mu|, with width linear in mu. The interband contribution at T=0 is a constant independent of Omega with a lower cutoff at 2mu. Distinctly different behavior occurs if interaction-induced phenomena in graphene cause an opening of a gap Delta. At a large magnetic field B, the diagonal and Hall conductivities at small Omega become independent of B but remain nonzero and show a structure associated with the lowest Landau level. This occurs because in the Dirac theory the energy of this level, E0 = +/-Delta, is field independent in sharp contrast to the conventional case.     

Broken-symmetry states of Dirac fermions in graphene with a partially filled high Landau level

We report on numerical study of the Dirac fermions in partially filled N=3 Landau level (LL) in graphene. At half-filling, the equal-time density-density correlation function displays sharp peaks at nonzero wave vectors +/-q*. Finite-size scaling shows that the peak value grows with electron number and diverges in the thermodynamic limit, which suggests an instability toward a charge density wave. A symmetry broken stripe phase is formed at large system size limit, which is robust against perturbation from disorder scattering. Such a quantum phase is experimentally observable through transport measurements. Associated with the special wave functions of the Dirac LL, both stripe and bubble phases become possible candidates for the ground state of the Dirac fermions in graphene with lower filling factors in the N=3 LL.     

Landau level spectrum for bilayer graphene in a tilted magnetic field

We consider a graphene bilayer in a constant magnetic field of arbitrary orientation, i.e., tilted with respect to the graphene plane. In the low energy approximation to the tight-binding model with Peierls substitution, we find the Landau level spectrum analytically in terms of spheroidal functions and the respective eigenvalues. We compare our result to the perpendicular and purely in-plane field cases. In the limit of perpendicular field we reproduce the known equidistant spectrum for Landau levels. In the opposite limit of large in-plane field this spectrum becomes two-fold degenerate, which is a consequence of Dirac point splitting induced by the in-plane field.