In graphene, the pseudospin and the valley flavor arise as new types of quantum degrees of freedom due to the honeycomb lattice comprising two sublattices (A and B) and two inequivalent Dirac points (K and K') in the Brillouin zone, respectively. Unique electronic properties of graphene result in striking phenomena such as Klein tunnelling, Veselago lens, and valley-polarized currents. Here, we investigate the roles of the pseudospin and the valley in electron scattering at graphene edges and show that they are strongly correlated with charge density modulations of short-wavelength oscillations and slowly-decaying beat patterns. Theoretical analyses using nearest-neighbor tight-binding methods and first-principles density-functional theory calculations agree well with our experimental data from the scanning tunneling microscopy. We believe that this study will lead to useful application of graphene to "valleytronics" and "pseudospintronics".
The coherent manipulation of spin and pseudospin underlies existing and emerging quantum technologies, including NMR, quantum communication, and quantum computation. Valley polarization, associated with the occupancy of degenerate, but quantum mechanically distinct valleys in momentum space, closely resembles spin polarization and has been proposed as a pseudospin carrier for the future quantum electronics. Valley exciton polarization has been created in the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers using excitation by circularly polarized light and has been detected both optically and…
Modifying the hexagonal lattices of graphene enables the repositioning and merging of the Dirac cones which proves to be a key element in the use of these materials for alternative electronic applications such as valleytronics. Here we study the nonequilibrium transport of carriers within a system containing two Dirac cones in both standard graphene and semi-Dirac graphene. In the latter, the lattice modifications cause the relativistic and parabolic dispersion bands to coexist, furnishing the Fermi surface with a rich pseudospin texture and a versatile Dirac cones separation. We construct a k…
Local energy extrema of the bands in momentum space, or valleys, can endow electrons in solids with pseudo-spin in addition to real spin. In transition metal dichalcogenides this valley pseudo-spin, like real spin, is associated with a magnetic moment which underlies the valley-dependent circular dichroism that allows optical generation of valley polarization, intervalley quantum coherence, and the valley Hall effect. However, magnetic manipulation of valley pseudospin via this magnetic moment, analogous to what is possible with real spin, has not been shown before. Here we report observation …
Pioneering studies in transition metal dichalcogenides have demonstrated convincingly the co-existence of multiple angular momentum degrees of freedom -- of spin (1/2 $s_z = \pm 1/2$), valley ($τ= K, K'$ or $\pm 1$), and atomic orbital ($l_z = \pm 2$) origins -- in the valence band with strong interlocking among them, which results in noise-resilient pseudospin states ideal for spintronic type applications. With field modulation a powerful, universal means in physics studies and applications, this work develops, from bare models in the context of complicated band structure, a general effective…
We propose a non-magnetic, pseudospin-based version of a spin valve, in which the pseudospin polarization in neighboring regions of a graphene bilayer is controlled by external gates. Numerical calculations demonstrate a large on-off ratio of such a device. This finding holds promise for the realization of pseudospintronics: a form of electronics based upon the manipulation of pseudospin analogous to the control of physical spin in spintronics applications.
Zeeman effect induced by the magnetic field introduces a splitting between the two valleys at K$^+$ and K$^-$ points of the Brillouin zone in monolayer semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. In consequence, the photoluminescence signal exhibits a field dependent degree of circular polarization. We present a comprehensive study of this effect in the case of a trion in monolayer MoTe$_2$, showing that although time integrated data allows us to deduce a g-factor of the trion state, such an analysis cannot be substantiated by the timescales revealed in the time-resolved experiments.
We present a symmetric double-sided pillared phononic crystals (PPnCs) that can emulate both quantum spin Hall effect (QSHE) and quantum valley Hall effect (QVHE) by solely imposing different geometric perturbations. Indeed, the Dirac cones can occur in the low (deep subwavelength) and high frequency regime by judiciously turning the parameters of the attached pillars and even a double Dirac cone can be achieved. We realize the valley-protected, the pseudospin-protected or the pseudospin-valley coupled edge states with the proposed platform. Besides, we show a variety of refraction phenomena (…
In monolayers of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides, the light helicity ($σ^+$ or $σ^-$) is locked to the valley degree of freedom, leading to the possibility of optical initialization of distinct valley populations. However, an extremely rapid valley pseudospin relaxation (at the time scale of picoseconds) occurring for optically bright (electric-dipole active) excitons imposes some limitations on the development of opto-valleytronics. Here we show that inter-valley scattering of excitons can be significantly suppressed in a $\mathrm{WSe}_2$ monolayer, a direct-gap two-dimensiona…
Electronic states in 2D materials can exhibit pseudospin degrees of freedom, which allow for unique carrier-field interaction scenarios. Here, we investigate ultrafast sublattice pseudospin relaxation in graphene by means of polarization-resolved photoluminescence spectroscopy. Comparison with microscopic Boltzmann simulations allows to determine a lifetime of the optically aligned pseudospin distribution of $12\pm 2\,\text{fs}$. This experimental approach extends the toolbox of graphene pseudospintronics, providing novel means to investigate pseudospin dynamics in active devices or under exte…
We study spin-valley and lattice-pseudo spin currents in a dual ferromagnetic-gated silicene-based junction. Silicene has buckled atomic structure which allows us to take sublattice-dependent ferromagnetism into account in the investigation. One of the study results show that transmission at the junctions exhibits anisotropic property only in anti-parallel cases. Interestingly, the studied junctions can be switched from a pure spin-polarizer to a pure valley-polarizer by reversing directions of exchange fields in the parallel junctions. The perfect control of spin-valley currents can be done o…
Valley pseudospin, the quantum degree of freedom characterizing the degenerate valleys in energy bands, is a distinct feature of two-dimensional Dirac materials. Similar to spin, the valley pseudospin is spanned by a time reversal pair of states, though the two valley pseudospin states transform to each other under spatial inversion. The breaking of inversion symmetry induces various valley-contrasted physical properties; for instance, valley-dependent topological transport is of both scientific and technological interests. Bilayer graphene (BLG) is a unique system whose intrinsic inversion sy…
We show that exchange interactions in two-dimensional electron gases out of equilibrium can generate a fictitious vector potential with intriguing signatures in interference and Hall measurements. Detailed predictions are made for graphene, where the effect is enhanced by pseudospin exchange.
Preserving a high degree of valley polarization of excitons in photo-excited transition-metal dichalcogenide monolayers (TMD-MLs) is desirable for the valley-based photonic applications, but widely recognized as a hard task hindered by the intrinsic electron-hole exchange interaction. In this study, we present a comprehensive investigation of valley-polarized finite-momentum excitons in WSe$_2$-MLs over the entire Brillouin zone by solving the density-functional-theory(DFT)-based Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE) under the guidance of symmetry analysis. We reveal that finite-momentum excitons are …
Hamiltonian and eigenstate problem is formulated for a bilayer graphene in terms of Clifford's geometric algebra \textit{Cl}$_{3,1}$. It is shown that such approach allows to perform analytical calculations in a simple way if geometrical algebra rotors are used. The measured quantities are express through spectrum and rotation half-angle of the pseudospin that appears in geometric algebra rotors. Properties of free charge carriers -- pseudospin, velocity and Berry phase -- in a bilayer graphene are investigated in the presence of the external voltage applied between the two layers.
We investigate the unusual features of the quantum transport in gapped monolayer graphene, which is in a pseudospin symmetry-broken state with a net perpendicular pseudomagnetization. Using these pseudoferromagnets (PFs), we propose a perfect pseudospin valve effect that can be used for realizing pseudospintronics in monolayer graphene. The peculiarity of the associated effects of pseudo spin injection and pseudo spin accumulation are also studied. We further demonstrate the determining effect of the sublattice pseudospin degree of freedom on Andreev reflection and the associated proximity eff…
Pseudospin, an additional degree of freedom inherent in graphene, plays a key role in understanding many fundamental phenomena such as the anomalous quantum Hall effect, electron chirality and Klein paradox. Unlike the electron spin, the pseudospin was traditionally considered as an unmeasurable quantity, immune to Stern-Gerlach-type experiments. Recently, however, it has been suggested that graphene pseudospin is a real angular momentum that might manifest itself as an observable quantity, but so far direct tests of such a momentum remained unfruitful. Here, by selective excitation of two sub…
Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors provide a unique possibility to access the electronic valley degree of freedom using polarized light, opening the way to valley information transfer between distant systems. Excitons with a well-defined valley index (or valley pseudospin) as well as superpositions of the exciton valley states can be created with light having circular and linear polarization, respectively. However, the generated excitons have short lifetimes (ps) and are also subject to the electron-hole exchange interaction leading to fast relaxation of the v…
Monolayer graphene with an energy gap presents a pseudospin symmetry broken ferromagnet with a perpendicular pseudomagnetization whose direction is switched by altering the type of doping between n and p. We demonstrate an electrical current switching effect in pseudospin version of a spin valve in which two pseudoferromagnetic regions are contacted through a normal graphene region. The proposed structure exhibits a pseudomagnetoresistance, defined as the relative difference of resistances of parallel and antiparallel alignments of the pseudomagnetizations, which can be tuned to unity. This pe…
Graphene electrons feature a pair of massless Dirac cones of opposite pseudospin chirality at two valleys. Klein tunneling refers to the intriguing capability of these chiral electrons to penetrate through high and wide potential barrier. The two valleys have been treated independently in the literature, where time reversal symmetry dictates that neither the normal incidence transmission nor the angle-averaged one can have any valley polarization. Here we show that, when intervalley scattering by barrier is accounted, graphene electrons normally incident at a superlattice barrier can experienc…
We demonstrate the coexistence of pseudospin- and valley-Hall-like edge states in a photonic crystal with $C_{3v}$ symmetry, which is composed of three interlacing triangular sublattices with the same lattice constants. By tuning the geometry of the sublattices, three complete photonic band gaps with nontrivial topology can be created, one of which is due to the band inversion associated with the pseudospin degree of freedom at the $Γ$ point and the other two due to the gapping out of Dirac cones associated with the valley degree of freedom at the $K, K'$ points. The system can support tri-ban…
Valleytronics is a rising topic to explore the emergent degree of freedom for charge carriers in energy band edges and has attracted a great interest due to many intriguing quantum phenomena and potential application in information processing industry. Creation of permanent valley polarization, i.e. unbalanced occupation at different valleys, is a chief challenge and also urgent question to be solved in valleytronics. Here we predict that the spin-orbit coupling and magnetic ordering allow spontaneous valley Zeeman-type splitting in pristine monolayer of VAgP2Se6 by using first-principles calc…
In crystals, energy band extrema in momentum space can be identified by their valley index. The internal quantum degree of freedom associated with valley pseudospin indices can act as a useful information carrier analogous to electronic charge or spin. Interest in valleytronics has been revived in recent years following the discovery of atomically thin materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides. However, the valley coherence time, a key quantity for manipulating the valley pseudospin, has never been measured in any material. In this work, we use a sequence of laser pulses …
Strong spin-orbit interaction (SOI) in graphene grown on tungsten disulfide (WS2) has been recently observed, leading to energy gap opening by SOI. Energy gap in graphene may also be induced by sublattice symmetry breaking (SSB) where energy level in A-sublattice is not equal to that in B-sublattice. SSB-gap may be produced by growing graphene on hexagonal boron nitride or silicon carbide. In this work, we investigate transport property in a SOI/SSB/SOI gapped graphene junction, focusing the effect of interplay of SOI and SSB. We find that, lattice-pseudospin polarization (L-PSP) can be contro…
We have investigated the role of pseudospin polarization in electron wave packet dynamics in pristine graphene and in a graphene antidot lattice subject to an external magnetic field. Employing a Green's function formalism, we show that the electron dynamics can be controlled by tuning pseudospin polarization. We find that in Landau quantized pristine graphene both the propagation of an electron wave packet and Zitterbewegung oscillations strongly depend on pseudospin polarization. The electron wave packet is found to propagate in the direction of initial pseudospin polarization. We also show …
The two-dimensional electron systems in graphene and in topological insulators are described by massless Dirac equations. Although the two systems have similar Hamiltonians, they are polar opposites in terms of spin-orbit coupling strength. We briefly review the status of efforts to achieve long spin relaxation times in graphene with its weak spin-orbit coupling, and to achieve large current-induced spin polarizations in topological-insulator surface states that have strong spin-orbit coupling. We also comment on differences between the magnetic responses and dilute-moment coupling properties …
We describe an angularly asymmetric interface-scattering mechanism which allows to spatially separate the electrons in the two low-energy valleys of bilayer graphene. The effect occurs at electrostatically defined interfaces separating regions of different pseudospin polarization, and is associated with the helical winding of the pseudospin vector across the interface, which breaks the reflection symmetry in each valley. Electrons are transmitted with a preferred direction of up to 60 degree over a large energetic range in one of the valleys, and down to -60 degree in the other. In a Y-junctio…
The chiral two-dimensional electron gas in Landau levels $\left\vert N\right\vert >0$ of a Bernal-stacked graphene bilayer has a valley-pseudospin Ising quantum Hall ferromagnetic behavior at odd filling factors $ν_{N}=1,3$ of these fourfold degenerate states. At zero interlayer electrical bias, the ground state at these fillings is spin polarized and electrons occupy one valley or the other while a finite electrical bias produces a series of valley pseudospin-flip transitions. In this work, we extend the Ising behavior to chirally-stacked multilayer graphene and discuss the hysteretic behavio…
Pseudospin, an additional degree of freedom related to the honeycomb structure of graphene, is responsible of many of the outstanding electronic properties found in this material. This article provides a clear understanding of how such pseudospin impacts the quasiparticle interferences of monolayer (ML) and bilayer (BL) graphene measured by low temperature scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. We have used this technique to map, with very high energy and space resolution, the spatial modulations of the local density of states of ML and BL graphene epitaxialy grown on SiC(0001), in pr…
In monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides, tightly bound excitons have been discovered with a valley pseudospin that can be optically addressed through polarization selection rules. Here, we show that this valley pseudospin is strongly coupled to the exciton center-of-mass motion through electron-hole exchange. This coupling realizes a massless Dirac cone with chirality index I=2 for excitons inside the light cone, i.e. bright excitons. Under moderate strain, the I=2 Dirac cone splits into two degenerate I=1 Dirac cones, and saddle points with a linear Dirac spectrum emerge in the bright e…
Bilayer graphene in a magnetic field supports eight zero-energy Landau levels, which, as a tunable band gap develops, evolve into two nearly-degenerate quartets separated by the band gap. A close look is made into the properties of such an isolated quartet of pseudo-zero-mode levels at half filling in the presence of an in-plane electric field and the Coulomb interaction. The pseudo-zero-mode levels turn out to support, via orbital mixing, charge carriers with induced electric dipole moment, which lead to characteristic collective excitations, pseudospin waves, with some controllable features;…
We investigate the pseudospin-dependent density-energy relation (whose differential with respect to energy is density of states) of a monolayer graphene under intense terahertz laser field by exactly solving the time-dependent Schrödinger equation with help of Floquet's theorem. We find that psedospin polarization can be induced by a circular polarized terahertz laser field. The psedospin polarization in K and K$^{\prime}$ valleys can be exactly opposite sign when the electron densities in these two calleys are equivalent. Further more, we find that the psedospin polarization can be manipulate…
Topologically protected gapless edge states are phases of quantum matter which behave as massless Dirac fermions, immunizing against disorders and continuous perturbations. Recently, a new class of topological insulators (TIs) with topological corner states have been theoretically predicted in electric systems, and experimentally realized in two-dimensional (2D) mechanical and electromagnetic systems, electrical circuits, optical and sonic crystals, and elastic phononic plates. Here, we demonstrate a pseudospin-valley-coupled phononic TI, which simultaneously exhibits gapped edge states and to…
We report a theoretical low-field magnetotransport study unveiling the effect of pseudospin in realistic models of weakly disordered graphene-based materials. Using an efficient Kubo computational method, and simulating the effect of charges trapped in the oxide, different magnetoconductance fingerprints are numerically obtained in system sizes as large as 0.3 micronmeter squared, containing tens of millions of carbon atoms. In two-dimensional graphene, a strong valley mixing is found to irreparably yield a positive magnetoconductance (weak localization), whereas crossovers from positive to a …
We foretell a new pseudospin-dependent phenomenon in mono-layer graphene (MLG), which is numerically simulated \emph{via} an innovator nano-spintronic device. We proposed a novel theoretical procedure for describing the dynamics of Dirac fermions, departing from classic theoretical modelling. More importantly, we have found appealing evidences of wiggling anti-phase oscillations in the probability density time-distribution for each sub-lattice state, which we called pseudospinorial Zitterbewegung effect (PZBE). The PZBE undergoes modulated by a robust transient character, with decay time of fe…
Interband optical transitions in graphene are subject to pseudospin selection rules. Impulsive excitation with linearly polarized light generates an anisotropic photocarrier occupation in momentum space that evolves at timescales shorter than 100fs. Here, we investigate the evolution of non-equilibrium charges towards an isotropic distribution by means of fluence-dependent ultrafast spectroscopy and develop an analytical model able to quantify the isotropization process. In contrast to conventional semiconductors, the isotropization is governed by optical phonon emission, rather than electron-…
Graphene is a gapless semiconductor in which conduction and valence band wavefunctions differ only in the phase difference between their projections onto the two sublattices of the material's two-dimensional honeycomb crystal structure. We explain why this circumstance creates openings for broken symmetry states, including antiferromagnetic states in monolayer and bilayer graphene and exciton condensates in double-layer graphene, that are momentum space analogs of the real-space order common in systems with strong local interactions. We discuss some similarities among, and some differences bet…
Spin manipulation is one of the most critical challenges to realize spin-based logic devices and spintronic circuits. Graphene has been heralded as an ideal material to achieve spin manipulation but so far new paradigms and demonstrators are limited. Here we show that certain impurities such as fluorine ad-atoms, which locally break sublattice symmetry without the formation of strong magnetic moment, could result in a remarkable variability of spin transport characteristics. The impurity resonance level is found to be associated with a long range sublattice pseudospin polarization, which by lo…
Interlayer valley excitons in bilayer MoS2 feature concurrently large oscillator strength and long lifetime, and hence represent an advantageous scenario for valleytronic applications. However, control of valley pseudospin of interlayer excitons in pristine bilayer MoS2, which lies at the heart of valleytronics, has remained elusive. Here we report the observation of highly circularly polarized photoluminescence from interlayer excitons of bilayer MoS2 with both optical and magnetic addressability. Under excitation of circularly polarized light near exciton resonance, interlayer excitons of bi…
Electrons in graphene, in addition to their spin, have two pseudospin degrees of freedom: sublattice and valley pseudospin. Valleytronics uses the valley degree of freedom as a carrier of information similar to the way spintronics uses electron spin. We show how a double barrier structure consisting of electric and vector potentials can be used to filter massive Dirac electrons based on their valley index. We study the resonant transmission through a finite number of barriers and we obtain the energy spectrum of a superlattice consisting of electric and vector potentials. When a mass term is i…
Pseudo-spin and valley degrees of freedom (DOFs) engineered in photonic analogues of topological insulators (TI) provide potential approaches to optical encoding and robust signal transport. Here we observe a ballistic edge state whose spin-valley indices are locked to the direction of propagation along the interface between a valley photonic crystal and a metacrystal emulating the quantum spin Hall effect. We demonstrate the inhibition of inter-valley scattering at a Y-junction formed at the interfaces between photonic TIs carrying different spin-valley Chern numbers. These results open up th…
The valley pseudospin in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) has been proposed as a new way to manipulate information in various optoelectronic devices. This relies on a large valley polarization that remains stable over long timescales (hundreds of ns). However, time resolved measurements report valley lifetimes of only a few ps. This has been attributed to mechanisms such as phonon-mediated inter-valley scattering and a precession of the valley psedospin through electron-hole exchange. Here we use transient spin grating to directly measure the valley depolarization lifetime in …
We apply a microscopic theory of exciton-polaritons in cavity-confined monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides including both optical polarizations in the monolayer plane, allowing to describe how chiral cavity photons interact with the valley degrees of freedom of the active material. Upon polariton formation, the degenerate excitons inhabiting the two inequivalent valleys are shown to assume bonding and antibonding superpositions as a result of cavity-mediated intravalley interactions combined with intervalley Coulomb interactions. This is representative of a polariton-induced coherent mi…
The basic properties of $π$-electrons near the Fermi level in graphene are reviewed from a point of view of the pseudospin and a gauge field coupling to the pseudospin. The applications of the gauge field to the electron-phonon interaction and to the edge states are reported.
The pseudospin quantum degree of freedom is one of the most remarkable properties of graphene that distinguishes it from ordinary two-dimensional metals and semiconductors. Pseudospin quantum interference leads to weak antilocalization (WAL) and is influenced strongly by point defects and thermal perturbations that break chirality and destroy phase coherence. Preserving and manipulating quantum transport properties up to room temperature is key to realizing practical pseudospin-based graphene devices. Here we report fabrication and transport characterization of graphene field-effect devices on…
The energy spectrum of planar polytype graphene-based superlattices has been investigated. It is shown that their energy spectrum undergoes pseudospin splitting due to the asymmetry of quantum wells forming the superlattice potential profile.
We show that the pseudospin being an additional degree of freedom for carriers in graphene can be efficiently controlled by means of the electron-electron interactions which, in turn, can be manipulated by changing the substrate. In particular, an out-of-plane pseudospin component can occur leading to a zero-field Hall current as well as to polarization-sensitive interband optical absorption.
Electrons in graphene are described by relativistic Dirac-Weyl spinors with a two-component pseudospin1-12. The unique pseudospin structure of Dirac electrons leads to emerging phenomena such as the massless Dirac cone2, anomalous quantum Hall effect2, 3, and Klein tunneling4, 5 in graphene. The capability to manipulate electron pseudospin is highly desirable for novel graphene electronics, and it requires precise control to differentiate the two graphene sub-lattices at atomic level. Graphene/boron nitride (graphene/BN) Moire superlattice, where a fast sub-lattice oscillation due to B-N atoms…
We present a detailed theoretical study of bilayer-graphene's electronic properties in the presence of electric and magnetic fields. Using group-theoretical methods, we derive an invariant expansion of the Hamiltonian for electron states near the K point of the Brillouin zone. In contrast to known materials, including single-layer graphene, any possible coupling of physical quantities to components of the external electric (magnetic) field has a counterpart where the analogous component of the magnetic (electric) field couples to exactly the same combination of quantities. For example, a purel…
The emerging field of valleytronics aims to exploit the valley pseudospin of electrons residing near Bloch band extrema as an information carrier. Recent experiments demonstrating optical generation and manipulation of exciton valley coherence (the superposition of electron-hole pairs at opposite valleys) in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) provide a critical step towards control of this quantum degree of freedom. The charged exciton (trion) in TMDs is an intriguing alternative to the neutral exciton for control of valley pseudospin because of its long spontaneous recombinatio…
We propose a way of producing and detecting pseudospin entanglement between electrons and holes in graphene. Electron-hole pairs are produced by a fluctuating potential and their entanglement is demonstrated by a current correlation measurement. The chirality of electrons in graphene facilitates a well-controlled Bell test with (pseudo-)spin projection angles defined in real space.
Quantum manipulation of valleys in bilayer graphene is investigated. We establish an effective Schrodinger model, and identify two key mechanisms for valley manipulation - band structure warping and generalized valley-orbit interaction. Specifically, we implement valley qubits / FETs in bilayer graphene, as prospective quantum devices to build valley-based quantum / classical information processing.
The control of physical properties of solids with short laser pulses is an intriguing prospect of ultrafast materials science. Continuous-wave high-frequency laser driving with circular polarization was predicted to induce a light-matter coupled new state possessing a quasi-static band structure with an energy gap and a quantum Hall effect, coined "Floquet topological insulator". Whereas the envisioned Floquet topological insulator requires well separated Floquet bands and therefore high-frequency pumping, a natural follow-up question regards the creation of Floquet-like states in graphene wit…
Graphene's outstanding mechanical properties lend to strain engineering, allowing for future valleytronics and nanoelectromechanic applications. In this work, we have found that a Gaussian-shaped strain on a graphene p-n junction results in quantum Hall conductance oscillations due to the rotated angle between valley isospins at the graphene armchair edges. Furthermore, additional Fano resonances were observed as the value of the strain-induced pseudo-magnetic field approaches that of the external magnetic field. The lifted valley degeneracy, stemming from the interplay between the real and ps…
A planar quantum-well device made of a gapless graphene nanoribbon with edges in contact with gapped graphene sheets is examined. The size-quantization spectrum of charge carriers in an asymmetric quantum well is shown to exhibit a pseudospin splitting. Interface states of a new type arise from the crossing of dispersion curves of gapless and gapped graphene materials. The exciton spectrum is calculated for a planar graphene quantum well. The effect of an external electric field on the exciton spectrum is analyzed.
The theoretical results are presented showing that strain-induced anisotropy of graphene spectrum gives rise to the valley currents under the illumination by normally incident light. The currents of the two graphene valleys are mutually compensated providing zero net electric current. The magnitude and direction of the valley currents are determined by the parameters of strain and light polarization. For not too high photon energy strain-induced valley current exceed that due to intrinsic warping of the graphene spectrum which suggests feasibility of strain-mediated valleytronics.
The pseudospin of Dirac electrons in graphene manifests itself in a peculiar momentum anisotropy for photo-excited electron-hole pairs. These interband excitations are in fact forbidden along the direction of the light polarization, and are maximum perpendicular to it. Here, we use time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to investigate the resulting unconventional hot carrier dynamics, sampling carrier distributions as a function of energy and in-plane momentum. We first show that the rapidly-established quasi-thermal electron distribution initially exhibits an azimuth-dependent te…
