Temperature dependent peaks in secondary electron emission spectra

Peaks in the secondary emission spectra not associated with Auger effects have been observed in various metals (particularly copper and cobalt). These peaks are suppressed at elevated temperature and appear to have amplitudes which are unique functions of temperature. They are characteristic of well ordered, and, particularly, clean surfaces, and are interpreted in terms of the diffraction of the emitted secondary electrons.     

Edge reconstruction limited electron transport of zigzag graphene nanoribbon

Recent experimental characterizations have clearly visualized edge reconstructions in graphene nanoribbon and stable defective configurations. We have performed first principles calculations to evaluate the effects of atomic edge arrangement on the electronic transport properties of zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNR). It is found that different conductance behaviors and variation of resonant energies are influenced by atomic reconstruction among three defective edge configurations. It is predicted that the conductance in edge reconstructed ZGNR is not a monotonic function of the increasing concentration of defects in size, but the topology and the distribution of defects should be taken into account. Our findings suggest that the ability of tuning the electronic transport of ZGNR could be improved through edge reconstruction activated by energetic particle irradiation.     

Temperature dependent atomic transport properties of liquid Sn

A simple analytical model for atomic motion of Tankeshwar et al. [J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 3, 3173 (1991)] is used to obtain velocity autocorrelation function (VACF) with the inter-atomic potential and the pair correlation function as required inputs for liquid Sn. For the electron-ion interaction the modified empty-core potential is used, which represents the orthogonalisation effect due to s-core states in such sp-bonded metals. Temperature dependence of structure factor is considered through temperature dependent potential parameter in the pair potential. The coherent behaviour of liquid Sn in terms of the dynamic structure factor employing viscoelastic theory has also been studied. Intrinsic temperature effect has been studied through damping term\hbox{${\exp}( {-\frac{{\pi k}_{{B}} {T}}{{2k}_{{F}} }{r}} )$} exp (?πkBT2kFr)in the pair potential. The predicted results for VACF, cosine power spectrum, mean square displacement, diffusion and viscosity coefficients have been compared with recent available data, and a good agreement has been achieved.     

Temperature behavior of electron transport in normal-metal-HTSC heterojunctions

Current transport in micron-sized normal-metal-high-temperature superconductor heterojunctions (Au/YBa₂Cu₃O_6+x ) was studied for two crystallographic orientations of YBCO films. It is shown that depending on the transport-current flow direction relative to the crystallographic axes of the YBCO film, the electronic transport properties of Au/YBCO heterojunctions with highly transparent boundaries change from quasi-tunneling (along the YBCO c axis) to close-to-Ohmic (in the directions lying in the YBCO basal plane).     

Temperature dependent linewidth of the conduction electron spin resonance in beryllium

A broadening in the low temperature CESR of beryllium is reported and possible mechanisms are discussed.     

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.     

Scattering theory of electron transport in single layer graphene with a time-periodic potential

We applied the scattering approach to studying the transport properties of charge carriers through single layer graphene in the presence of a time-periodic potential. Using the method, expressions for the second-quantized current operator, conductivity and shot noise are obtained. The results obtained in this study demonstrate that the applied external field provides sidebands for charge carriers to tunnel through the graphene, and these sidebands changed the transport properties of the system. The results obtained in this study might be of interest to basic understanding of photon-assisted tunneling (PAT) and designers of electron devices based on graphene.     

A comparison of the transport properties of bilayer graphene,monolayer graphene,and two-dimensional electron gas

We studied and compared the transport properties of charge carriers in bilayer graphene, monolayer graphene, and the conventional semiconductors (the two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG)). It is elucidated that the normal incidence transmission in the bilayer graphene is identical to that in the 2DEG but totally different from that in the monolayer graphene. However, resonant peaks appear in the non-normal incidence transmission profile for a high barrier in the bilayer graphene, which do not occur in the 2DEG. Furthermore, there are tunneling and forbidden regions in the transmission spectrum for each material, and the division of the two regions has been given in the work. The tunneling region covers a wide range of the incident energy for the two graphene systems, but only exists under specific conditions for the 2DEG. The counterparts of the transmission in the conductance profile are also given for the three materials, which may be used as high-performance devices based on the bilayer graphene.     

DNA sequencing through graphene nanogap: a model of sequential electron transport

Transverse electron transport through DNA nucleobases in graphene nanogap with armchair edges is investigated within the sequential tunneling model using the tight-binding approximation and the master equation technique. The effects of both random positions of nucleotides when DNA repeatedly pulls through graphene nanogap during the decoding process and the Coulomb blockade are studied. We have shown that combined measurements of the tunnel current and its root-mean-square deviation in the regime of sequential electron transport allow to facilitate identification of nucleotides while the effects of Coulomb blockade disturb DNA sequencing.     

Phonon-mediated electron pairing in graphene

The possibility of superconducting pairing of electrons in doped graphene due to in-plane and out-of-plane phonons is studied. Quadratic coupling of electrons with out-of-plane phonons is considered in details, taking into account both deformation potential and bond-stretch contributions. The order parameter of electron-electron pairing can have different structures due to four-component spinor character of electrons wave function. We consider s-wave pairing, diagonal on conduction and valence bands, but having arbitrary structure with respect to valley degree of freedom. The sign and magnitude of contribution of each phonon mode to effective electron-electron interaction turns out to depend on both the symmetry of phonon mode and the structure of the order parameter. Unconventional orbital-spin symmetry of the order parameter is found.     

Robust transport properties in graphene

Two-dimensional Dirac fermions are used to discuss quasiparticles in graphene in the presence of impurity scattering. Transport properties are completely dominated by diffusion. This may explain why recent experiments did not find weak localization in graphene. The diffusion coefficient of the quasiparticles decreases strongly with increasing strength of disorder. Using the Kubo formalism, however, we find a robust minimal conductivity that is independent of disorder. This is a consequence of the fact that the change of the diffusion coefficient is fully compensated by a change of the number of delocalized quasiparticle states.     

Temperature-dependent transport in suspended graphene

The resistivity of ultraclean suspended graphene is strongly temperature (T) dependent for 50.5 x 10(11) cm(-2), the resistivity increases with increasing T and is linear above 50 K, suggesting carrier scattering from acoustic phonons. At T=240 K the mobility is approximately 120,000 cm2/V s, higher than in any known semiconductor. At the charge neutral point we observe a nonuniversal conductivity that decreases with decreasing T, consistent with a density inhomogeneity <10(8) cm(-2).     

Two-dimensional phonon transport in graphene

Properties of phonons-quanta of the crystal lattice vibrations-in graphene have recently attracted significant attention from the physics and engineering communities. Acoustic phonons are the main heat carriers in graphene near room temperature, while optical phonons are used for counting the number of atomic planes in Raman experiments with few-layer graphene. It was shown both theoretically and experimentally that transport properties of phonons, i.e. energy dispersion and scattering rates, are substantially different in a quasi-two-dimensional system such as graphene compared to the basal planes in graphite or three-dimensional bulk crystals. The unique nature of two-dimensional phonon transport translates into unusual heat conduction in graphene and related materials. In this review, we outline different theoretical approaches developed for phonon transport in graphene, discuss contributions of the in-plane and cross-plane phonon modes, and provide comparison with available experimental thermal conductivity data. Particular attention is given to analysis of recent results for the phonon thermal conductivity of single-layer graphene and few-layer graphene, and the effects of the strain, defects, and isotopes on phonon transport in these systems.     

Temperature dependent and other features in electron emission from W(110)

Five minor peaks near the N_4,5N_6,7X (X≡N_6,7orO_2,3) Auger emissions induced by electron bombardment of a tungsten surface have been studied. The 142 eV feature is mainly due to N₃N₅N₇ super-Coster- Kronig processes. The peak at 131 eV showed some temperature dependence and those at 116 eV, 219 eV and 229 eV showed considerable temperature dependence. The temperature sensitive electron emissions were thought to arise from the diffraction of secondary electrons. The analysis was inconclusive save perhaps for the 229 eV feature for which a Kikuchi mechanism is suggested.     

The importance of electron correlation in graphene and hydrogenated graphene

Local density approximation (LDA) and Green function effective Coulomb (GW) calculations are performed to investigate the effect of electronic correlations on the electronic properties of both graphene and graphane. The size of band gap in graphane increases from 3.7 eV in LDA to 4.9 eV in GW approximation. By calculating maximally localized Wannier wave functions, we evaluate the necessary integrals to get the Hubbard U and the exchange J interaction from first principles for both graphene and graphane. Our ab-initio estimates indicate that in the case of graphene, in addition to the hopping amplitude t ～ 2.8 eV giving rise to the Dirac nature of low lying excitations, the Hubbard U value of ～8.7 eV gives rise to a super-exchange strength of J _AFM ～ 3.5 eV. This value dominates over the direct (ferromagnetic) exchange value of J _FM ～ 1.6 eV. This brings substantial Mott-Heisenberg aspects into the problem of graphene. Moreover, similarly large values of the Hubbard and super-exchange strength in graphane suggests that the nature of gap in graphane has substantial Mott character.     

Fully valley-polarized electron beams in graphene

We propose a device to break the valley degeneracy in graphene and produce fully valley-polarized currents that can be either split or collimated to a high degree in a experimentally controllable way. The proposal combines two recent seminal ideas: negative refraction and the concept of valleytronics in graphene. The key new ingredient lies in the use of the specular shape of the Fermi surface of the two valleys when a high electronic density is induced by a gate voltage (trigonal warping). By changing the gate voltage in a n-p-n junction of a graphene transistor, the device can be used as a valley beam splitter, where each of the beams belong to a different valley, or as a collimator. The result is demonstrated through an optical analogy with two-dimensional photonic crystals.     

Temperature dependence of electron transport in GaN/AlGaN quantum cascade detectors

In this work we investigate the influence of extractor design and temperature on transport properties of quantum cascade detector. For this purpose we realize numerical calculation of electron lifetimes considering electron–phonon and electron impurities scattering. Electron–phonon interactions are treated using Fermi Golden Rule which allows to calculate lifetime of carriers with temperature and structure design taking into account. Transport characteristics of the quantum cascade detectors have been computed using density matrix theory. As a result, we have obtained the system of ordinary differential equations describing dynamics of electron distribution functions and intersubband correlations. Managing carrier lifetime in quantum wells gives us possibility to make device response faster. Also carrier lifetime is the relevant characteristic, allows us to calculate a lot of parameters such as quantum efficiency and photocurrent.     

Phonon-limited transport coefficients in extrinsic graphene

The effect of electron-phonon scattering processes on the thermoelectric properties of extrinsic graphene was studied. Electrical and thermal resistivity, as well as the thermopower, were calculated within the Bloch theory approximations. Analytical expressions for the different transport coefficients were obtained from a variational solution of the Boltzmann equation. The phonon-limited electrical resistivity ρ(e-ph) shows a linear dependence at high temperatures and follows ρ(e-ph) ~T(4) at low temperatures, in agreement with experiments and theory previously reported in the literature. The phonon-limited thermal resistivity at low temperatures exhibits a ~T dependence and achieves a nearly constant value at high temperatures. The predicted Seebeck coefficient at very low temperatures is Q(T) ~ Π(2)k(2)_(B)/T(3eE_(F), which shows a n(-1/2) dependence with the density of carriers, in agreement with experimental evidence. Our results suggest that thermoelectric properties can be controlled by adjusting the Bloch-Grüneisen temperature through its dependence on the extrinsic carrier density in graphene.     

Thermal transport in four-terminal graphene nano-junctions

The thermal transport properties of four-terminal graphene nano-junctions (FGNJs) consisting of semi-infinite armchair-edged nanoribbon and zigzag-edged nanoribbon were calculated. The thermal transport in FGNJs is sensitive to their geometric shape. The thermal conductance of FGNJs depends on the width of semi-infinite graphene nanoribbons and center region. These thermal transport phenomena can be explained by analyzing the phonon transmission coefficient. Compared with previous thermal rectifiers, reverse modulation can be obtained by changing the width of the thermal terminal. The results provide significant physical models and theoretical validity in designing the thermal devices based on the graphene nano-junctions.     

Sequence dependent electron transport in wet DNA: ab initio and molecular dynamics studies

We combine molecular dynamics simulations and density functional theory to analyze the electrical structure and transmission probability in four different DNA sequences under physiological conditions. The conductance in these sequences is primarily controlled by interstrand and intrastrand coupling between low-energy guanine orbitals. Insertion of adenine-thymine base pairs between the guanine-cytosine rich domains acts as a tunneling barrier. Our theory explains recent length dependent conductance data for individual DNA molecules in water.