A remarkable manifestation of the quantum character of electrons in matter is offered by graphene, a single atomic layer of graphite. Unlike conventional solids where electrons are described with the Schrodinger equation, electronic excitations in graphene are governed by the Dirac Hamiltonian. Some of the intriguing electronic properties of graphene, such as massless Dirac quasiparticles with linear energy-momentum dispersion, have been confirmed by recent observations. Here we report an infrared (IR) spectromicroscopy study of charge dynamics in graphene integrated in gated devices. Our measurements verify the expected characteristics of graphene and, owing to the previously unattainable accuracy of IR experiments, also uncover significant departures of the quasiparticle dynamics from predictions made for Dirac fermions in idealized, free standing graphene. Several observations, including a marked deviation of the energy bands from the simple linear dispersion, point to the relevance of many body interactions to the rather exotic electromagnetic response in graphene.
Due to Klein tunneling, electrostatic potentials are unable to confine Dirac electrons. We show that it is possible to confine massless Dirac fermions in a monolayer graphene sheet by inhomogeneous magnetic fields. This allows one to design mesoscopic structures in graphene by magnetic barriers, e.g. quantum dots or quantum point contacts.
The second-order Dirac equation (DE) and its velocity operator of graphene electrons in an electromagnetic field are obtained according to tight-binding k.p method. With extra terms included, they demonstrate the motion of graphene electrons more completely through a more complete Ehrenfest theorem and present finer properties of graphene electrons. Eigen-energy given by the second-order DE for field-free graphene indicates that extra terms may affect the trembling motion of graphene electrons. For graphene in a magnetic field, eigen-energy given by the second-order DE suggests that graphene e…
At an interface between contacts and graphene, the mathematical equation that governs the propagation of electrons transforms from the Schrodinger to the Dirac equation. The condition of current probability conservation at such an interface does not determine uniquely the boundary conditions for the quantum wavefunction. We discuss the possible form of boundary conditions, determine its influence on the transmission coefficient of a contacted graphene structure and suggest that optical experiments on photonic crystals with Dirac points can help identifying, under certain circumstances, the pro…
To answer this question, we discuss the properties of electronic viscosity in deformed graphene by introducing strain and velocity gradient as pseudo-magnetic and pseudo-electric fields, respectively, into the Dirac model. We found that viscosity decreases with applied strain, simultaneously leading to a rather significant increase of the Reynolds number and enabling a real possibility for manifestation of noticeable turbulent effects in strained graphene.
There is evidence for existence of massless Dirac quasi-particles in graphene, which satisfy Dirac equation in (1+2) dimensions near the so called Dirac points which lie at the corners at the graphene's brilluoin zone. We revisit the derivation of Dirac equation in (1+2) dimensions obeyed by quasiparticles in graphene near the Dirac points. It is shown that parity operator in (1+2) dimensions play an interesting role and can be used for defining "conserved" currents resulting from the underlying Lagrangian for Dirac quasi-particles in graphene which is shown to have U_{A}(1)*U_{B}(1) symmetry.…
Graphene and topological insulators (TI) possess two-dimensional Dirac fermions with distinct physical properties. Integrating these two Dirac materials in a single device creates interesting opportunities for exploring new physics of interacting massless Dirac fermions. Here we report on a practical route to experimental fabrication of graphene-Sb2Te3 heterostructure. The graphene-TI heterostructures are prepared by using a dry transfer of chemical-vapor-deposition grown graphene film. ARPES measurements confirm the coexistence of topological surface states of Sb2Te3 and Dirac π bands of grap…
In this paper we analyse the electronic properties of Dirac electrons in finite-size ribbons and in circular and hexagonal quantum dots made of graphene.
By solving two-component spinor equation for massless Dirac Fermions, we show that graphene under a periodic external magnetic field exhibits a unique energy spectrum: At low energies, Dirac Fermions are localized inside the magnetic region with discrete Landau energy levels, while at higher energies, Dirac Fermions are mainly found in non-magnetic regions with continuous energy bands originating from wavefunctions analogous to particle-in-box states of electrons. These findings offer a new methodology for the control and tuning of massless Dirac Fermions in graphene.
This is a short review of two-dimensional Dirac fermions in graphene and similar systems such as boron nitride, quasi-2D organic salts $α$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2$I$_3$, artificial graphene with cold atoms in optical lattices, etc. The emphasis is on magnetic field properties (semi-classical quantization of cyclotron orbits, Landau levels, quantum Hall effect, magneto-plasmons, magneto-phonon resonance, magneto-transport, etc.) and on topological properties (Berry phase, winding number, inter-band effects, merging transition of Dirac points, etc.).
We present a tight binding theory of the Dirac point resonances due to adsorbed atoms and molecules on an infinite 2D graphene sheet based on the standard tight binding model of the graphene p-band electronic structure and the extended Huckel model of the adsorbate and nearby graphene carbon atoms. The relaxed atomic geometries of the adsorbates and graphene are calculated using density functional theory. Our model includes the effects of the local rehybridization of the graphene from the sp^2 to sp^3 electronic structure that occurs when adsorbed atoms or molecules bond covalently to the grap…
Electronic properties of two-dimensional allotropes of carbon, such as graphene and its bilayer, multi-layer epitaxial graphene, few-layer Bernal-stacked graphene, as well as of three-dimensional bulk graphite are reviewed from the viewpoint of recent optical spectroscopy studies. Attention is focused on relativistic-like character of quasi particles in these systems, which are referred to as massless or massive Dirac fermions.
Effects of disorder on the electronic transport properties of graphene are strongly affected by the Dirac nature of the charge carriers in graphene. This is particularly pronounced near the Dirac point, where relativistic charge carriers cannot efficiently screen the impurity potential. We have studied time-dependent conductance fluctuations and magnetoresistance in graphene in the close vicinity of the Dirac point. We show that the fluctuations are due to the quantum interference effects due to scattering on impurities, and find an unusually large reduction of the relative noise power in magn…
In contrast to recent description [Phys. Rev. Lett. 106 (2011)116803], we show that pseudo spin in graphene is not completely a real angular momentum. The pseudo spin only in the direction perpendicular to graphene sheet is real angular momentum, while the pseudo spin parallel to graphene plane is still not real angular momentum. Interestingly, it is also shown that the Newtonian-like force and pseudo spin torque of massive Dirac electrons in graphene under strain field mimic gravitomagnetic force and gravitomagnetic spin torque, respectively. This is due to the equivalence of pseudo spin and …
We study how low-energy charge carriers scatter off periodic and linear graphene grain boundaries oriented along the zigzag direction with a periodicity three times greater than that of pristine graphene. These defects map the two Dirac points into the same position, and thus allow for intervalley scattering to occur. Starting from graphene's first-neighbor tight-binding model we show how can we compute the boundary condition seen by graphene's massless Dirac fermions at such grain boundaries. We illustrate this procedure for the 3-periodic pentagon-only grain boundary, and then work out the l…
The low energy physics of both graphene and surface states of three-dimensional topological insulators is described by gapless Dirac fermions with linear dispersion. In this work, we predict the emergence of a "heavy" Dirac fermion in a graphene/topological insulator hetero-junction, where the linear term almost vanishes and the corresponding energy dispersion becomes highly non-linear. By combining {\it ab initio} calculations and an effective low-energy model, we show explicitly how strong hybridization between Dirac fermions in graphene and the surface states of topological insulators can r…
Starting from an engineered periodic optical structure formed by waveguide arrays comprised of two interleaved lattices, we simulate a deformed Dirac equation. We show that the system also simulate graphene nano ribbons under strain. This optical analogue allows us to study the phenomenon of Zitterbewegung for the modified Dirac equation. Our results show that the amplitude of Zitterbewegung oscillations changes as the deformation parameter is changed.
We develop a microscopic theory of the weak localization of two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions which is valid in the whole range of classically weak magnetic fields. The theory is applied to calculate magnetoresistance caused by the weak localization in graphene and conducting surfaces of bulk topological insulators.
Superlattice in graphene generates extra Dirac points in the band structure and their number depends on the superlattice potential strength. Here, we have created a lateral superlattice in a graphene device with a tunable barrier height using a combination of two gates. In this Letter, we demonstrate the use of lateral superlattice to modify the band structure of graphene leading to the emergence of new Dirac cones. This controlled modification of the band structure persists up to 100 K.
In the previous publications (E. Kogan and V. U. Nazarov, Phys. Rev. B {\bf 85}, 115418 (2012) and E. Kogan, Graphene {\bf 2}, 74 (2013)) we presented point group symmetry classification of energy bands in graphene. In the present note we generalize classification by considering the space group symmetry. Also in the framework of group theory we describe destruction of the Dirac points in graphene by a supercell potential.
Motivated by recent graphene transport experiments, we have undertaken a numerical study of the conductivity of disordered two-dimensional massless Dirac fermions. Our results reveal distinct differences between the cases of short-range and Coulomb randomly distributed scatterers. We speculate that this behavior is related to the Boltzmann transport theory prediction of dirty-limit behavior for Coulomb scatterers.
Application of secondary quantized self-consistent Dirac -- Hartree -- Fock approach to consider electronic properties of monolayer graphene with accounting of spin-polarized states allows to coherently explain experimental results on energy band minigaps and charge carrier asymmetry in graphene, propose a description of valent and conduction zones shifts and gives a nice theoretical estimation of electron and holes cyclotron masses which is in very good agreement with known experimental data.
Using first principles pseudopotential density functional theory calculations, we find that terminating zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNR) with monovalent alkali atoms at a reduced concentration has a dramatic impact on their properties. In particular, using sodium atoms for the saturation of ZGNR edges at half the concentration of edge-carbon atoms make it a one dimensional, perfect semimetal, where the valance and conduction bands meet at only a single, Dirac-like point. Unlike pristine graphene, the Dirac-"cones" of Na-ZGNR is not symmetric with respect to wave vector, but rather it is tilt…
Electrons moving in graphene behave as massless Dirac fermions, and they exhibit fascinating low-frequency electrical transport phenomena. Their dynamic response, however, is little known at frequencies above one terahertz (THz). Such knowledge is important not only for a deeper understanding of the Dirac electron quantum transport, but also for graphene applications in ultrahigh speed THz electronics and IR optoelectronics. In this paper, we report the first measurement of high-frequency conductivity of graphene from THz to mid-IR at different carrier concentrations. The conductivity exhibits…
Energy band structure of the bilayer graphene superlattices with $δ$-function magnetic barriers and zero average magnetic flux is studied within the four-band continuum model, using the transfer matrix method. The periodic magnetic potential effects on the zero-energy Dirac point of pristine bilayer graphene are exactly analyzed. Magnetic potential is shown also to generate finite-energy Dirac points at the edges of Brillouin zone the positions of which and the related dispersions are determined in the case of symmetric potentials.
We report a thermoelectric study of graphene in both zero and applied magnetic fields. As a direct consequence of the linear dispersion of massless particles, we find that the Seebeck coefficient Sxx diverges with 1 /, where n2D is the carrier density. We observe a very large Nernst signal Sxy (~ 50 uV/K at 8 T) at the Dirac point, and an oscillatory dependence of both Sxx and Sxy on n2D at low temperatures. Our results underscore the anomalous thermoelectric transport in graphene, which may be used as a highly sensitive probe for impurity bands near the Dirac point.
Graphene's electronic structure can be fundamentally altered when a substrate- or adatom-induced Kekulé superlattice couples the valley and isospin degrees of freedom. Here, we show that the band structure of Kekulé-textured graphene can be re-engineered through layer stacking. We predict a family of Kekulé graphene bilayers that exhibit band structures with up to six valleys, and room-temperature Dirac quasiparticles whose masses can be tuned electrostatically. Fermi velocities half as large as in pristine graphene put this system in the strongly coupled regime, where correlated ground states…
We study the electronic structures of ABA (Bernal) stacked multilayer graphenes in uniform perpendicular electric field, and show that the interplay of the trigonal warping and the potential asymmetry gives rise to a number of emergent Dirac cones nearly touching at zero energy. The band velocity and the energy region (typically a few tens of meV) of these gate-induced Dirac cones are tunable with the external electric field. In ABA trilayer graphene, in particular, applying an electric field induces a non-trivial valley Hall state, where the energy gap at the Dirac point is filled by chiral e…
Theory predicts that graphene under uniaxial compressive strain in an armchair direction should undergo a topological phase transition from a semimetal into an insulator. Due to the change of the hopping integrals under compression, both Dirac points shift away from the corners of the Brillouin zone towards each other. For sufficiently large strain, the Dirac points merge and an energy gap appears. However, such a topological phase transition has not yet been observed in normal graphene (due to its large stiffness) neither in any other electronic system. We show numerically and analytically th…
We review the energy spectrum and transport properties of several types of one- dimensional superlattices (SLs) on single-layer and bilayer graphene. In single-layer graphene, for certain SL parameters an electron beam incident on a SL is highly collimated. On the other hand there are extra Dirac points generated for other SL parameters. Using rectangular barriers allows us to find analytic expressions for the location of new Dirac points in the spectrum and for the renormalization of the electron velocities. The influence of these extra Dirac points on the conductivity is investigated. In the…
The recent developments in the emerging field of plasmonics in graphene and other Dirac systems are reviewed and a comprehensive introduction to the standard models and techniques is given. In particular, we discuss intrinsic plasmon excitations of single and bilayer graphene via hydrodynamic equations and the random phase approximation, but also comment on double and multilayer structures. Additionally, we address Dirac systems in the retardation limit and also with large spin-orbit coupling including topological insulators. Finally, we summarize basic properties of the charge, current and ph…
We report on the properties of incompressible states of Dirac fermions in graphene in the presence of anisotropic interactions and a quantizing magnetic field. We introduce the necessary formalism to incorporate the anisotropy in the system. The incopmpressible state in graphene is found to survive the anisotropy upto a critical value of the anisotropy parameter. The anisotropy also introduces two branches in the collective excitations of the corresponding Laughlin state. It strongly influences the short-range behavior of the pair-correlation functions in the incompressible ground state.
The fluctuations of the electromagnetic vacuum are one of the most powerful manifestations of the quantum structure of nature. Their effect on the Dirac electrons of graphene is known to induce some spectacular and purely quantistic phenomena, like the Casimir and the Aharanov--Bohm effects. In this work we demonstrate, by using a first principles approach, that the Dirac cone of graphene is also affected by a sizable Lamb shift.We show that the microscopic electronic currents flowing on the graphene plane couple efficiently with the vacuum fluctuations causing a renormalization of the electro…
To construct Lagrangian based on plate theory and tight-binding model, deflection-field coupling to Dirac fermions in graphene can be investigated. As have been known, deflection-induced strain may cause an effect on the motion of the electron, like a pseudo gauge field. In the present work, we will investigate the effect of the Dirac field on the motion of the deflection-field in graphene derived from Lagrangian density. Due to the interaction of the deflection- and Dirac-fields, the current-induced surface-tension up to about N/m in graphene membrane is predicted. This result may lead to con…
We uncover a new type of magic-angle phenomena when an AA-stacked graphene bilayer is twisted relative to another graphene system with band touching. In the simplest case this constitutes a trilayer system formed by an AA-stacked bilayer twisted relative to a single layer of graphene. We find multiple anisotropic Dirac cones coexisting in such twisted multilayer structures at certain angles, which we call "Dirac magic." We trace the origin of Dirac magic angles to the geometric structure of the twisted AA-bilayer Dirac cones relative to the other band-touching spectrum in the moiré reciprocal …
A spatially modulated Dirac gap in a graphene sheet leads to charge confinement, thus enabling a graphene quantum dot to be formed without the application of external electric and magnetic fields [Appl. Phys. Lett. \textbf{97}, 243106 (2010)]. This can be achieved provided the Dirac gap has a local minimum in which the states become localised. In this work, the physics of such a gap-induced dot is investigated in the continuum limit by solving the Dirac equation. It is shown that gap-induced confined states couple to the states introduced by an electrostatic quantum well potential. Hence the r…
The response of Dirac fermions to a Coulomb potential is predicted to differ significantly from the behavior of non-relativistic electrons seen in traditional atomic and impurity systems. Surprisingly, many key theoretical predictions for this ultra-relativistic regime have yet to be tested in a laboratory. Graphene, a 2D material in which electrons behave like massless Dirac fermions, provides a unique opportunity to experimentally test such predictions. The response of Dirac fermions to a Coulomb potential in graphene is central to a wide range of electronic phenomena and can serve as a sens…
We present a simple group theory explanation of the fact that the energy bands merge in the corners of the Brillouin zone for graphene and for two particular cases of Kagome lattice for arbitrary tight--binding Hamiltonian. We connect the linearity of the spectrum in the vicinity of these points for monolayer graphene, bilayer graphene for AA stacking and Kagome lattice with the properties of the conical points of the surface, known from geometry.
We present an experimental study of nonlocal electrical signals near the Dirac point in graphene. The in-plane magnetic field dependence of the nonlocal signal confirms the role of spin in this effect, as expected from recent predictions of Zeeman spin Hall effect in graphene, but our experiments show that thermo-magneto-electric effects also contribute to nonlocality, and the effect is sometimes stronger than that due to spin. Thermal effects are seen to be very sensitive to sample details that do not influence other transport parameters.
Two-dimensional electrons in graphene are known to behave as massless fermions with Dirac-Weyl type linear dispersion near the Dirac crossing points. We have investigated the collective excitations of this system in the presence or absence of an external magnetic field. Unlike in the conventional two-dimensional electron system, the $ν=\frac1m$ fractional quantum Hall state in graphene was found to be most stable in the $n=1$ Landau level. In the zero field case, but in the presence of the spin-orbit interaction, an undamped plasmon mode was found to exist in the gap of the single-particle con…
Graphene-based superlattice (SL) formed by a periodic gap modulation is studied theoretically using a Dirac-type Hamiltonian. Analyzing the dispersion relation we have found that new Dirac points arise in the electronic spectrum under certain conditions. As a result, the gap between conduction and valence minibands disappears. The expressions for the position of these Dirac points in ${\bf k}$-space and threshold value of the potential for their emergence were obtained. At some parameters of the system, we have revealed interface states which form the top of the valence miniband.
The charge carrier density in graphene on a dielectric substrate such as SiO$_2$ displays inhomogeneities, the so-called charge puddles. Because of the linear dispersion relation in monolayer graphene, the puddles are predicted to grow near charge neutrality, a markedly distinct property from conventional two-dimensional electron gases. By performing scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy on a mesoscopic graphene device, we directly observe the puddles' growth, both in spatial extent and in amplitude, as the Dirac point is approached. Self-consistent screening theory provides a unified des…
We calculate the spectrum of massive Dirac fermions in graphene in the presence of an inhomogeneous magnetic field modeled by a step function. We find an analytical universal relation between the bandwidths and the propagating velocities of the modes at the border of the magnetic region, showing how by tuning the mass term one can control the speed of these traveling edge states.
We study the band structure of graphene's Dirac-Weyl quasi-particles in a one-dimensional magnetic superlattice formed by a periodic sequence of alternating magnetic barriers. The spectrum and the nature of the states strongly depend on the conserved longitudinal momentum and on the barrier width. At the center of the superlattice Brillouin zone we find new Dirac points at finite energies where the dispersion is highly anisotropic, in contrast to the dispersion close to the neutrality point which remains isotropic. This finding suggests the possibility of collimating Dirac-Weyl quasi-particles…
We present an overview of the theoretical understanding of Hofstadter butterflies in monolayer and bilayer graphene. After a brief introduction on the past work in conventional semiconductor systems, we discuss the novel electronic properties of monolayer and bilayer graphene that helped to detect experimentally the fractal nature of the energy spectrum. We have discussed the theoretical background on the Moiré pattern in graphene. This pattern was crucial in determining the butterfly structure. We have also touched upon the role of electron-electron interaction in the butterfly pattern in gra…
The Dirac point and linear band structure in Graphene bestow it with remarkable electronic and optical properties, a subject of intense ongoing research. Explanations of high electronic mobility in graphene, often invoke the masslessness of electrons based on the effective relativistic Dirac-equation behavior, which are inaccessible to most undergraduate students and are not intuitive for non-physics researchers unfamiliar with relativity. Here, we show how to use only basic concepts from semiconductor theory and the linear band structure of graphene to explain its unusual effective mass and m…
We compute the dynamical polarizability of graphene beyond the usual Dirac cone approximation, integrating over the full Brillouin zone. We find deviations at $\hbarω=2t$ ($t$ the hopping parameter) which amount to a logarithmic singularity due to the van Hove singularity and derive an approximate analytical expression. Also at low energies, we find deviations from the results obtained from the Dirac cone approximation which manifest themselves in a peak spitting at arbitrary direction of the incoming wave vector $\q$. Consequences for the plasmon spectrum are discussed.
Generalizing the notion of composite fermions to the "pseudo-relativistic" Quantum Hall phenomena in graphene, we discuss a possible emergence of compressible states at the filling factors -3/2, -1/2, 1/2, 3/2. This analysis is further extended to the nearby incompressible states viewed as the Integer Quantum Hall Effect of the composite Dirac fermions, as well as those that might occur at the filling factors -1, 0, 1 as a result of the (pseudo)spin-singlet pairing between them.
Graphene on hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) can exhibit a topological phase via mutual crystallographic alignment. Recent measurements of nonlocal resistance ($R_{nl}$) near the secondary Dirac point (SDP) in ballistic graphene/hBN superlattices have been interpreted as arising due to the quantum valley Hall state. We report hBN/graphene/hBN superlattices in which $R_{nl}$ at SDP is negligible, but below 60 K approaches the value of $h/2e^{2}$ in zero magnetic field at the primary Dirac point with a characteristic decay length of 2 $μ$m. Furthermore, nonlocal transport transmission probabilities…
We study the physics of Dirac fermions in a gapped graphene monolayer containing two Coulomb impurities. For the case of equal impurity charges, we discuss the ground-state energy using the linear combination of atomic orbitals (LCAO) approach. For opposite charges of the Coulomb centers, an electric dipole potential results at large distances. We provide a nonperturbative analysis of the corresponding low-energy scattering problem.
We study electric dipole effects for massive Dirac fermions in graphene and related materials. The dipole potential accomodates towers of infinitely many bound states exhibiting a universal Efimov-like scaling hierarchy. The dipole moment determines the number of towers, but there is always at least one tower. The corresponding eigenstates show a characteristic angular asymmetry, observable in tunnel spectroscopy. However, charge transport properties inferred from scattering states are highly isotropic.
We have realized a Dirac fermion reflector in graphene by controlling the ballistic carrier trajectory in a sawtooth-shaped npn junction. When the carrier density in the inner p-region is much larger than that in the outer n-regions, the first straight np interface works as a collimator and the collimated ballistic carriers can be totally reflected at the second zigzag pn interface. We observed clear resistance enhancement around the np+n regime, which is in good agreement with the numerical simulation. The tunable reflectance of ballistic carriers could be an elementary and important step for…
Quantum confinement of graphene Dirac-like electrons in artificially crafted nanometer structures is a long sought goal that would provide a strategy to selectively tune the electronic properties of graphene, including bandgap opening or quantization of energy levels However, creating confining structures with nanometer precision in shape, size and location, remains as an experimental challenge, both for top-down and bottom-up approaches. Moreover, Klein tunneling, offering an escape route to graphene electrons, limits the efficiency of electrostatic confinement. Here, a scanning tunneling mic…
Dirac plasmons in a doped graphene sheet have recently been shown to enable confinement of light to ultrasmall volumes. In this work we calculate the intrinsic lifetime of a Dirac plasmon in a doped graphene sheet by analyzing the role of electron-electron interactions beyond the random phase approximation. The damping mechanism at work is intrinsic since it operates also in disorder-free samples and in the absence of lattice vibrations. We demonstrate that graphene's sublattice-pseudospin degree of freedom suppresses intrinsic plasmon losses with respect to those that occur in ordinary two-di…
The virial theorem for a system of interacting electrons in a crystal, which is described within the framework of the tight-binding model, is derived. We show that, in particular case of interacting massless electrons in graphene and other Dirac materials, the conventional virial theorem is violated. Starting from the tight-binding model, we derive the generalized virial theorem for Dirac electron systems, which contains an additional term associated with a momentum cutoff at the bottom of the energy band. Additionally, we derive the generalized virial theorem within the Dirac model using the …
Proximity orbital and spin-orbital effects of graphene on monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are investigated from first-principles. The Dirac band structure of graphene is found to lie within the semiconducting gap of TMDCs for sulfides and selenides, while it merges with the valence band for tellurides. In the former case the proximity-induced staggered potential gaps and spin-orbit couplings (all on the meV scale) of the Dirac electrons are established by fitting to a phenomenological effective Hamiltonian. While graphene on MoS$_2$, MoSe$_2$, and WS$_2$ has a topologically …
Using the coupled-mode theory in guided-wave optics and electronics, we explore a directional coupling structure composed of two parallel waveguides electrostatically induced by the split-gate technique in bulk graphene. Our results show that Klein tunneling can greatly enhance the coupling strength of the structure. By adjusting a gate voltage, the probability density of Dirac electron wave function initially in one waveguide can be completely transferred into the other waveguide within several hundred nanometers. Our findings could not only lead to functional coherent coupling devices for qu…
We investigate the emergence of extra Dirac points in the electronic structure of a periodically spaced barrier system, i.e., a superlattice, on single-layer graphene, using a Dirac-type Hamiltonian. Using square barriers allows us to find analytic expressions for the occurrence and location of these new Dirac points in k-space and for the renormalization of the electron velocity near them in the low-energy range. In the general case of unequal barrier and well widths the new Dirac points move away from the Fermi level and for given heights of the potential barriers there is a minimum and maxi…
Massless Dirac particles on the helicoid are theoretically investigated. With its possible application being helical graphene, we explore how the peculiarities of Dirac particles appear on the curved, screw-symmetric surface. The zweibein is used to derive the massless Dirac equation on the helicoid, as well as general curved surfaces. Bound states of massless Dirac electrons are shown to be absent on the helicoid, and then the scattering probabilities and the phase shifts on the surface are obtained from numerically calculated wave functions. We find the local density of states and the phase …
The propagation of charge carriers in graphene is compared to that in type II/III heterostructures for which a two-band Kane model is appropriate. In particular, conditions for a quantitative analogy between these two cases are searched for, and found to be quite restrictive. The analysis in this paper shows that the essential property of graphene is not the spinor character of its wavefunction but the linear dispersion relation, which does not hold in finite-gap two-band Kane-type semiconductors. Therefore, Kane-like and Dirac-like charge carriers behave differently, except in zero-bandgap se…
