We study the low-energy quantum electrodynamics of electrons and holes, in a thin graphene wire. We develop an effective field theory (EFT) based on an expansion in p/p_T, where p_T is the typical momentum of electrons and holes in the transverse direction, while p are the momenta in the longitudinal direction. We show that, to the lowest-order in (p/p_T), our EFT theory is formally equivalent to the exactly solvable Schwinger model. By exploiting such an analogy, we find that the ground state of the quantum wire contains a condensate of electron-hole pairs. The excitation spectrum is saturated by electron-hole collective bound-states, and we calculate the dispersion law of such modes. We also compute the DC conductivity per unit length at zero chemical potential and find g_s =e^2/h, where g_s=4 is the degeneracy factor.
We discuss quantum electrodynamics emerging in the vacua with anisotropic scaling. Systems with anisotropic scaling were suggested by Horava in relation to the quantum theory of gravity. In such vacua the space and time are not equivalent, and moreover they obey different scaling laws, called the anisotropic scaling. Such anisotropic scaling takes place for fermions in bilayer graphene, where if one neglects the trigonal warping effects the massless Dirac fermions have quadratic dispersion. This results in the anisotropic quantum electrodynamics, in which electric and magnetic fields obey diff…
We consider the relationship between the tight-binding Hamiltonian of the two-dimensional honeycomb lattice of carbon atoms with nearest neighbor hopping only and the 2+1 dimensional Hamiltonian of quantum electrodynamics which follows in the continuum limit. We pay particular attention to the symmetries of the free Dirac fermions including spatial inversion, time reversal, charge conjugation and chirality. We illustrate the power of such a mapping by considering the effect of the possible symmetry breaking which corresponds to the creation of a finite Dirac mass, on various optical properties…
A Lorentz invariant version of a mass-gap graphene-like planar quantum electrodynamics, the parity-preserving $U(1)\times U(1)$ massive QED$_3$, exhibits attractive interaction in low-energy electron-polaron--electron-polaron $s$-wave scattering, favoring quasiparticles bound states, the $s$-wave bipolarons.
We compute the two-loop fermion self-energy in massless reduced quantum electrodynamics for an arbitrary gauge using the method of integration by parts. Focusing on the limit where the photon field is four-dimensional, our formula involves only recursively one-loop integrals and can therefore be evaluated exactly. From this formula, we deduce the anomalous scaling dimension of the fermion field as well as the renormalized fermion propagator up to two loops. The results are then applied to the ultra-relativistic limit of graphene and compared with similar results obtained for four-dimensional a…
Graphene is a two-dimensional material with strongly nonlinear electrodynamics and optical properties. We present some of our recent theoretical results on the quantum and non-perturbative quasi-classical theories of nonlinear effects in graphene, influence of substrates on graphene nonlinearities, plasma oscillations in graphene in the nonlinear regime and other effects.
We show that the Higgs mode of a superconductor, which is usually challenging to observe by far-field optics, can be made clearly visible using near-field optics by harnessing ultraconfined graphene plasmons. As near-field sources we investigate two examples: graphene plasmons and quantum emitters. In both cases the coupling to the Higgs mode is clearly visible. In the case of the graphene plasmons, the coupling is signaled by a clear anticrossing stemming from the interaction of graphene plasmons with the Higgs mode of the superconductor. In the case of the quantum emitters, the Higgs mode is…
Graphene is a novel two-dimensional material with fascinating electrodynamic properties like the ability to support collective electron oscillations (plasmons) accompanied by tight confinement of electromagnetic fields. Our goal is to explore light-matter interaction in graphene in the context of plasmonics and other technological applications but also to use graphene as a platform for studying many body physics like the interaction between plasmons, phonons and other elementary excitations. Plasmons and plasmon-phonon interaction are analyzed within the self-consistent linear response approxi…
It is a fundamental paradigm that the physical effects induced by electric fields are qualitatively different from those induced by magnetic fields. Here we show that electrons at a Dirac point in bilayer graphene experience an unusual type of electromagnetism where magnetic and electric fields are virtually equivalent: every coupling of an electron's degrees of freedom to a magnetic field is matched by an analogous coupling of the same degrees of freedom to an electric field. This counter-intuitive duality of matter-field interactions enables novel ways to create and manipulate spin and pseud…
The linear energy dispersion of graphene electrons leads to a strongly nonlinear electromagnetic response of this material. We develop a general quantum theory of the third-order nonlinear local dynamic conductivity of graphene $σ_{αβγδ}(ω_1,ω_2,ω_3)$, which describes its nonlinear response to a uniform electromagnetic radiation. The derived analytical formulas describe a large number of different nonlinear phenomena such as the third harmonic generation, the four wave mixing, the saturable absorption, the second harmonic generation stimulated by a dc electric current, etc., which may be used …
Graphene is the first example of truly two-dimensional crystals - it's just one layer of carbon atoms. It turns out to be a gapless semiconductor with unique electronic properties resulting from the fact that charge carriers in graphene demonstrate charge-conjugation symmetry between electrons and holes and possess an internal degree of freedom similar to ``chirality'' for ultrarelativistic elementary particles. It provides unexpected bridge between condensed matter physics and quantum electrodynamics (QED). In particular, the relativistic Zitterbewegung leads to the minimum conductivity of or…
Graphene, the first truly two-dimensional (one atom thin) material, possesses strongly nonlinear electrodynamic and optical properties. At low (microwave, terahertz) frequencies this results from the unique electronic property of graphene - the "relativistic", linear energy dispersion of its electrons and holes. At high (infrared, visible) frequencies its nonlinear response functions have resonances due to the inter-band transitions between the electron and hole bands. The position of these resonances on the frequency axis depends on the Fermi energy, or the charge carrier density, which can b…
We show that an energy gap is induced in graphene by light-matter coupling to a circularly polarized photon mode in a cavity. Using many-body perturbation theory we compute the electronic spectra which exhibit photon-dressed sidebands akin to Floquet sidebands for laser-driven materials. In contrast with Floquet topological insulators, in which a strictly quantized Hall response is induced by light only for off-resonant driving in the high-frequency limit, the photon-dressed Dirac fermions in the cavity show a quantized Hall response characterized by an integer Chern number. Specifically for g…
Graphene bilayers with layer antisymmetric strains are studied using the Dirac-Harper model for a pair of single layer Dirac Hamiltonians coupled by a one-dimensional moiré-periodic interlayer tunneling amplitude. This model hosts low energy, nearly dispersionless bands near charge neutrality that support anomalous polarizations of its charge multipole distributions. These are analyzed introducing a generalized Berry curvature that encodes the field-induced dynamics of multipole fields allowed in a chiral medium with time reversal symmetry. The formulation identifies a reciprocity relation bet…
Quantum Electrodynamics of graphene Landau levels in a deep-subwavelength hyperbolic phonon polariton cavity
JEIP, UAR 3573 CNRS, Collège de France, PSL Research University(法国高等科学研究所、巴黎文理研究大学);ICFO - Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology(巴塞罗那光子科学研究院、巴塞罗那科学技术研究院);Dipartimento di Fisica dell’Università di Pisa(比萨大学物理系);ICREA-Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats(加泰罗尼亚高级研究学院)
We extend the electrodynamics of two dimensional electron gases to account for the extrinsic spin Hall effect (SHE). The theory is applied to doped graphene decorated with a random distribution of absorbates that induce spin-orbit coupling (SOC) by proximity. The formalism extends previous semiclassical treatments of the SHE to the non-local dynamical regime. Within a particle-number conserving approximation, we compute the conductivity, dielectric function, and spin Hall angle in the small frequency and wave vector limit. The spin Hall angle is found to decrease with frequency and wave number…
An electrodynamic response of graphene to a strong electromagnetic radiation is considered. A hot electron model (HEM) is introduced and a corresponding system of nonlinear equations is formulated. Solutions of this system are found and discussed in detail for intrinsic and doped graphene: the hot electron temperature, non-equilibrium electron and holes densities, absorption coefficient and other physical quantities are calculated as functions of the incident wave frequency $ω$ and intensity $I$, of the equilibrium chemical potential $μ_0$ and temperature $T_0$, scattering parameters, as well …
An electromagnetic response of a single graphene layer to a uniform, arbitrarily strong electric field $E(t)$ is calculated by solving the kinetic Boltzmann equation within the relaxation-time approximation. The theory is valid at low (microwave, terahertz, infrared) frequencies satisfying the condition $\hbarω\lesssim 2E_F$, where $E_F$ is the Fermi energy. We investigate the saturable absorption and higher harmonics generation effects, as well as the transmission, reflection and absorption of radiation incident on the graphene layer, as a function of the frequency and power of the incident r…
The electrical conductivity of graphene with a nonzero mass-gap parameter is investigated starting from the first principles of quantum electrodynamics in (2+1)-dimensional space-time at any temperature. The formalism of the polarization tensor defined over the entire plane of complex frequency is used. At zero temperature we reproduce the results for both real and imaginary parts of the conductivity, obtained previously in the local approximation, and generalize them taking into account the effects of nonlocality. At nonzero temperature the exact analytic expressions for real and imaginary pa…
A non-perturbative model for graphene optical nonlinearity is developed for the study of ultrafast pulse propagation along a monolayer, as in the case of graphene-comprising nanophotonic integrated waveguides. This graphene `hot electron' model (GHEM) builds upon earlier work, based on the Fermi-Dirac framework for 2D semiconductors, which was aimed mainly at steady-state absorptive response of a monolayer under free-space laser-beam illumination. Our extension adapts the GHEM to in-plane light-matter interaction along graphene monolayers under intense ps-pulse excitation that leads to the car…
Magnetic barriers in graphene are not easily tunable. However, introducing both electric and magnetic fields, provides tunable and far more controllable electronic states in graphene. Here we study such systems. A one-dimensional channel can be formed in graphene using perpendicular electric and magnetic fields. This channel (quantum wire) supports localized electron-hole states, with parameters that can be controlled by an electric field. Such quantum wire offers peculiar conducting properties, like unidirectional conductivity and robustness to disorder. Two separate quantum wires comprise a …
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.
Electrodynamic properties of the graphene - magnetic semiconductor - graphene sandwich-structure have been investigated theoretically with taking into account the dissipation processes. Influence of graphene layers on electromagnetic waves propagation in graphene - semi-infinte magnetic semiconductor and graphene - magnetic semiconductor - graphene sandwich-structure has been analyzed. Frequency and field dependences of the reflectance, transmittance and absorbtance of electromagnetic waves by such structure have been calculated. The size effects associated with the thickness of the structure …
Electrodynamic properties of the graphene - magnetic semiconductor - graphene superlattice placed in magnetic field have been investigated theoretically in Faraday geometry with taking into account dissipation processes. Frequency and field dependences of the reflectance, transmittance and absorbtance of electromagnetic waves by such superlattice have been calculated for different numbers of periods of the structure and different sizes of the periods with using a transfer matrix method. The possibility of efficient control of electrodynamic properties of graphene - magnetic semiconductor - gra…
A wireless vapor sensor based upon the quantum capacitance effect in graphene is demonstrated. The sensor consists of a metal-oxide-graphene variable capacitor (varactor) coupled to an inductor, creating a resonant oscillator circuit. The resonant frequency is found to shift in proportion to water vapor concentration for relative humidity (RH) values ranging from 1% to 97% with a linear frequency shift of 5.7 +- 0.3 kHz / RH%. The capacitance values extracted from the wireless measurements agree with those determined from capacitance-voltage measurements, providing strong evidence that the sen…
We analyze the low-voltage transport response of large molecular wires bridging graphene electrodes, where the molecules are physisorbed onto the graphene sheets by planar anchor groups. In our study, the sheets are pulled away to vary the gap length and the relative atomic positions. The molecular wires are also translated in directions parallel and perpendicular to the sheets. We show that the energy position of the Breit-Wigner molecular resonances is universal for a given molecule, in the sense that it is independent of the details of the graphene edges, gaps lengths or of the molecule pos…
The contact conductance between graphene and two quantum wires which serve as the leads to connect graphene and electron reservoirs is theoretically studied. Our investigation indicates that the contact conductance depends sensitively on the graphene-lead coupling configuration. When each quantum wire couples solely to one carbon atom, the contact conductance vanishes at the Dirac point if the two carbon atoms coupling to the two leads belong to the same sublattice of graphene. We find that such a feature arises from the chirality of the Dirac electron in graphene. Such a chirality associated …
The electronic states of a finite-width graphene sheet in the presence of an electrostatic confining potential and a perpendicular magnetic field are investigated. The confining potential shifts the Landau levels inside the well and creates current-carrying states at or close to the interface with the barriers in addition to the edge states caused by the finite width of the sheet. Detailed energy spectra are given as a function of the quantum wire parameters. The dependence of the density of states on the confinement potential is evaluated for finite and zero magnetic field.
We show that lattice mismatched bilayer graphene can realize robust one-dimensional wires. By considering a single domain wall where the masses of the Dirac electrons change their sign, we establish a general projection principle. This determines how the existence of topological zero-energy domain wall states depends on the direction of the domain wall and locations of the massive Dirac cones inside the bulk Brillouin zone. We generalize this idea for arbitrary patterns of domain walls, showing that the topologically protected states exist only in the presence of an odd number of topological d…
Twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) realizes a highly tunable, strongly interacting system featuring superconductivity and various correlated insulating states. We establish gate-defined wires in TBG with proximity-induced spin-orbit coupling as $(i)$ a tool for revealing the nature of correlated insulators and $(ii)$ a platform for Majorana-based topological qubits. In particular, we show that the band structure of a gate-defined wire immersed in an `inter-valley coherent' correlated insulator inherits electrically detectable fingerprints of symmetry breaking native to the latter. Surrounding the …
We explore in detail the electronic phases of a system consisting of three non-colinear arrays of coupled quantum wires, each rotated 120 degrees with respect to the next. A perturbative renormalization-group analysis reveals that multiple correlated states can be stabilized: a $s$-wave or $d \pm id$ superconductor, a charge density wave insulator, a two-dimensional Fermi liquid, and a 2D Luttinger liquid (also known as smectic metal or sliding Luttinger liquid). The model provides an effective description of electronic interactions in small-angle twisted bilayer graphene and we discuss its im…
Graphene nanoribbons with perfect edges are predicted to exhibit interesting electronic and spintronic properties, notably quantum-confined bandgaps and magnetic edge states. However, graphene nanoribbons produced by lithography have, to date, exhibited rough edges and low-temperature transport characteristics dominated by defects, mainly variable range hopping between localized states in a transport gap near the Dirac point. Here, we report that one- and two-layer nanoribbons quantum dots made by unzipping carbon nanotubes10 exhibit well-defined quantum transport phenomena, including Coulomb …
An approach that has been given promising results concerning investigations on the physics of graphene is the so-called reduced quantum electrodynamics. In this work we consider the natural generalization of this formalism to curved spaces. We employ the local momentum space representation. We discuss the validity of the Ward identity and study one-loop diagrams in detail. We show that the one-loop beta function is zero. As an application, we calculate the one-loop optical conductivity of graphene by taking into account curvature effects which can be incorporated locally. In addition, we demon…
Graphene was shown to have strongly nonlinear electrodynamic properties. In particular, being irradiated by an electromagnetic wave with the frequency $ω$, it can efficiently generate higher frequency harmonics. Here we predict that in a specially designed structure "graphene -- dielectric -- metal" the third-harmonic ($3ω$) intensity can be increased by more than two orders of magnitude as compared to an isolated graphene layer.
The field theoretic renormalization study of reduced quantum electrodynamics (QED) is performed up to two loops. In the condensed matter context, reduced QED constitutes a very natural effective relativistic field theory describing (planar) Dirac liquids, e.g., graphene and graphene-like materials, the surface states of some topological insulators and possibly half-filled fractional quantum Hall systems. From the field theory point of view, the model involves an effective (reduced) gauge field propagating with a fractional power of the d'Alembertian in marked contrast with usual QEDs. The use …
We present a simple model that we believe captures the key aspects of the competition between superconducting and insulating states in twisted bilayer graphene. Within this model, the superconducting phase is primary, and arises at generic fillings, but is interrupted by the insulator at commensurate fillings. Importantly, the insulator forms because of electron-electron interactions, but the model is agnostic as to the superconducting pairing mechanism, which need not originate with electron-electron interactions. The model is composed of a collection of crossed one-dimensional quantum wires …
We report magnetotransport measurements in ballistic graphene/hexagonal boron nitride mesoscopic wires where the charge carrier mean free path is comparable to wire width $W$. Magnetoresistance curves show characteristic peak structures where the peak field scales with the ratio of cyclotron radius $R_\textrm{c}$ and wire width $W$ as $W/R_\textrm{c} = 0.9 \pm 0.1$, due to diffusive boundary scattering. The obtained proportionality constant between $R_\textrm{c}$ and $W$ differs from that of a classical semiconductor 2D electron system where $W/R_\textrm{c} = 0.55$.
We show that the spectrum of subbands in an electrostatically defined quantum wire in gapped bilayer graphene directly manifests the minivalley structure and reflects Berry curvature via the associated magnetic moment of the states in the low-energy bands of this two-dimensional material. We demonstrate how these appear in degeneracies of the low-energy minibands and their valley splitting, which develops linearly in a weak magnetic field. Consequently, magneto-conductance of a ballistic point contact connecting two non-gapped areas of a bilayer through a gapped (top and bottom gated) barrier …
Confinement of electrons in graphene to make devices has proven to be a challenging task. Electrostatic methods fail because of Klein tunneling, while etching into nanoribbons requires extreme control of edge terminations, and bottom-up approaches are limited in size to a few nanometers. Fortunately, its mechanical flexibility raises the possibility of using strain to alter graphene's properties and create novel straintronic devices. Here, we report transport studies of nanowires created by linearly-shaped strained regions resulting from individual folds formed by layer transfer onto hexagonal…
We demonstrate that, at the onset of conduction, an electrostatically defined quantum wire in bilayer graphene (BLG) with an interlayer asymmetry gap may act as a 1D semimetal, due to the multiple minivalley dispersion of its lowest subband. Formation of a non-monotonic subband coincides with a near-degeneracy between the bottom edges of the lowest two subbands in the wire spectrum, suggesting an $8e^2/h$ step at the conduction threshold, and the semimetallic behaviour of the lowest subband in the wire would be manifest as resonance transmission peaks on an $8e^2/h$ conductance plateau.
We show that the recently discovered double-valley splitting of the low-lying Landau level(s) in the Quantum Hall Effect in graphene can be explained as perturbative orbital interaction of intra- and inter-valley microscopic orbital currents with a magnetic field. This effect is provided by the translational-non-invariant terms corresponding to graphene's crystallographic honeycomb symmetry but do not exist in the relativistic theory of massless Dirac Fermions in Quantum Electrodynamics. We discuss recent data in view of these results.
The linear electrodynamic properties of graphene -- the frequency-dependent conductivity, the transmission spectra and collective excitations -- are briefly outlined. The non-linear frequency multiplication effects in graphene are studied, taking into account the influence of the self-consistent-field effects and of the magnetic field. The predicted phenomena can be used for creation of new devices for microwave and terahertz optics and electronics.
The magnetoconductance of graphene nanoribbons with rough zigzag and armchair edges is studied by numerical simulations. nanoribbons with sufficiently small bulk disorder show a pronounced magnetoconductance minimum at cyclotron radii close to the ribbon width, in close analogy to the wire peak observed in conventional semiconductor quantum wires. In zigzag nanoribbons, this feature becomes visible only above a threshold amplitude of the edge roughness, as a consequence of the reduced current density close to the edges.
We present the implementation and application of a multiphysics simulation technique to carrier dynamics under electromagnetic excitation in supported two-dimensional electronic systems. The technique combines ensemble Monte Carlo (EMC) for carrier transport with finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) for electrodynamics and molecular dynamics (MD) for short-range Coulomb interactions among particles. We demonstrate the use of this EMC/FDTD/MD technique by calculating the room-temperature dc and ac conductivity of graphene supported on SiO2.
We study spin effects of quantum wires formed in bilayer graphene by electrostatic confinement. With a proper choice of the confinement direction, we show that in the presence of magnetic field, spin-orbit interaction induced by curvature, and intervalley scattering, bound states emerge that are helical. The localization length of these helical states can be modulated by the gate voltage which enables the control of the tunnel coupling between two parallel wires. Allowing for proximity effect via an s-wave superconductor, we show that the helical modes give rise to Majorana fermions in bilayer…
Graphene-like materials can be effectively described by Quantum Electrodynamics in (2+1)-dimensions. In a pristine state, these systems exhibit a symmetry between the nonequivalent Dirac points in the honeycomb lattice. Realistic samples which include distortions and crystalline anisotropies are considered through mass gaps of topological and dynamical nature. In this work we show that the incorporation of an in-plane uniform external magnetic field on this pseudochiral asymmetric configuration generates a non-dissipative electric current aligned with the magnetic field: The pseudo chiral magn…
Motivated by recent experimental and calculational investigations of bilayer, hydrogenated and fluorinated graphene, we apply the formalisms of U(1) QED (quantum electrodynamics) and SU(2) QCD (quantum chromodynamics) theories of strongly correlated state. Unlike non-bipartite triangular lattice, on bipartite honeycomb lattice there always exists a monopole that transforms trivially under all the microscopic symmetries, destabilizing the Dirac spin liquid (DSL), so that one can continuously tune the DSL state to the state with parent SU(2) instead of U(1) gauge group. The SU(2) theory describe…
Strongly nonlinear Bernstein modes in graphene reveal plasmon-enhanced near-field magnetoabsorption
University of Regensburg(雷根斯堡大学);Institute of High Pressure Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences(波兰科学院高压物理研究所);National University of Singapore(新加坡国立大学);Faculty of Physics, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv(利沃夫伊万·弗兰科国立大学物理学院)
We study an interaction of 2D quasiparticles with linear dispersion (graphene) with impurity potentials. It is shown that in 1D potential well (quantum wire) there are discrete levels, corresponding to localized states, whereas in 2D well (quantum dot) there are no such states. Scattering cross-section of electrons (holes) of graphene by an axially symmetric potential well is found and it is shown that for infinetily large energy of incoming particles the cross-section tends to a constant. The effective Hamiltonian for a curved quantum wire of graphene is derived and it is shown that the corre…
We investigate the development of a gapped phase in the field theory of Dirac fermions in graphene with long-range Coulomb interaction. In the large-N approximation, we show that the chiral symmetry is only broken below a critical number of two-component Dirac fermions $N_c = 32/π^2$, that is exactly half the value found in quantum electrodynamics in 2+1 dimensions. Adopting otherwise a ladder approximation, we give evidence of the existence of a critical coupling at which the anomalous dimension of the order parameter of the transition diverges. This result is consistent with the observation …
We investigate the two-plasmon spontaneous decay of a quantum emitter near single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and graphene-coated wires (GCWs). We demonstrate efficient, enhanced generation of two-plasmon entangled states in SWCNTs due to the strong coupling between tunable guided plasmons and the quantum emitter. We predict two-plasmon emission rates more than twelve orders of magnitude higher than in free-space, with average lifetimes of a few dozens of nanoseconds. Given their low dimensionality, these systems could be more efficient for generating and detecting entangled plasmons in co…
In this paper, we numerically study the bound electron states induced by long range Coulomb impurity in gapped graphene and the quasi-bound states in supercritical region based on the lattice model. We present a detailed comparison between our numerical simulations and the prediction of the continuum model which is described by the Dirac equation in (2+1)-dimensional Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). We also use the Fano's formalism to investigate the quasi-bound state development and design an accessible experiments to test the decay of the supercritical vacuum in the gapped graphene.
We investigate theoretically the cavity quantum electrodynamics of the cyclotron transition for Dirac fermions in graphene. We show that the ultrastrong coupling regime characterized by a vacuum Rabi frequency comparable or even larger than the transition frequency can be obtained for high enough filling factors of the graphene Landau levels. Important qualitative differences occur with respect to the corresponding physics of massive electrons in a semiconductor quantum well. In particular, an instability for the ground state analogous to the one occuring in the Dicke-model is predicted for in…
Electron-plasmon interaction in a thin cylindrical wire is described in terms of four-dimensional Kaluza-Klein theory in which angular coordinate of the metal cylinder is considered to be one of the two compactified coordinates. In this model electron-electron, electron-plasmon and nonlinear optical plasmon-plasmon interactions are unified via introduction of effective superchiral charges and fields. Such an approach has important consequences for description of electromagnetic and transport properties of mesoscopic metallic wires and rings at low temperatures, such as recent observation of de…