Suspended graphene samples are observed to be gently rippled rather than being flat. In [M. Friedrich, U. Stefanelli. Graphene ground states, arXiv:1802.05049], we have checked that this nonplanarity can be rigorously described within the classical molecular-mechanical frame of configurational-energy minimization. There, we have identified all ground-state configurations with graphene topology with respect to classes of next-to-nearest neighbor interaction energies and classified their fine nonflat geometries.
In this second paper on graphene nonflatness, we refine the analysis further and prove the emergence of wave patterning. Moving within the frame of [M. Friedrich, U. Stefanelli. Graphene ground states, arXiv:1802.05049], rippling formation in graphene is reduced to a two-dimensional problem for one-dimensional chains. Specifically, we show that almost minimizers of the configurational energy develop waves with specific wavelength, independently of the size of the sample. This corresponds remarkably to experiments and simulations.
Recently graphene was introduced with tunable ripple texturing, a nanofabric enabled by graphene's remarkable elastic properties. However, one can further envision sandwiching the ripples, thus constructing composite nanomaterial, graphene cardboard. Here the basic mechanical properties of such structures are investigated computationally. It turns out that graphene cardboard is highly tunable material, for its elastic figures of merit vary orders of magnitude, with Poisson ratio tunable from 10 to -0.5 as one example. These trends set a foundation to guide the design and usage of metamaterials…
Graphene ripples possess peculiar essential properties owing to the strong chemical bonds, as an investigation using first principle calculations clearly revealed. Various charge distributions, bond lengths, energy bands, and densities of states strongly depend on the corrugation structures, ripple curvatures and periods. Armchair ripples belonging to a zero-gap semiconductor display split middle-energy states, while the zigzag ripples exhibit highly anisotropic energy bands, semi-metallic behavior implicated by the destruction of the Dirac cone, and the newly created critical points. Their de…
Graphene is locally two-dimensional but not flat. Nanoscale ripples appear in suspended samples and rolling-up often occurs when boundaries are not fixed. We address this variety of graphene geometries by classifying all ground-state deformations of the hexagonal lattice with respect to configurational energies including two- and three-body terms. As a consequence, we prove that all ground-state deformations are either periodic in one direction, as in the case of ripples, or rolled up, as in the case of nanotubes.
A continuum theory to describe periodic ripple formation in planar graphene/boron nitride superlattices is formulated. Due to the lattice mismatch between the two materials, it is shown that flat superlattices are unstable with respect to ripple formation of appropriate wavelengths. A competition between bending energy and transverse stretching energy gives rise to an optimal ripple wavelength that depends on the superlattice pitch. The optimal wavelengths predicted by the continuum theory are in good agreement with atomic scale total energy calculations previously reported in Nandwana and Ert…
Graphene is the nature's thinnest elastic membrane, with exceptional mechanical and electrical properties. We report the direct observation and creation of one-dimensional (1D) and 2D periodic ripples in suspended graphene sheets, using spontaneously and thermally induced longitudinal strains on patterned substrates, with control over their orientations and wavelengths. We also provide the first measurement of graphene's thermal expansion coefficient, which is anomalously large and negative, ~ -7x10^-6 K^-1 at 300K. Our work enables novel strain-based engineering of graphene devices.
Nano-rippled graphene, a structurally modified graphene, presents a novel material with a large range of possible applications including sensors, electrodes, coatings, optoelectronics, spintronics and straintronics. In this work we have synthesized macroscopic single layer graphene with well-defined uniaxial periodic modulation on a stepped Ir(332) substrate and transferred it to a dielectric support. The applied fast transfer process does not damage the Ir crystal which can be repeatedly used for graphene synthesis. Upon transfer, a millimeter sized graphene flake with a uniform periodic nano…
Experimentally produced graphene sheets exhibit a wide range of mobility values. Both extrinsic charged impurities and intrinsic ripples (corrugations) have been suggested to induce long-range disorder in graphene and could be a candidate for the dominant source of disorder. Here, using large-scale molecular dynamics and quantum transport simulations, we find that the hopping disorder and the gauge and scalar potentials induced by the ripples are short-ranged, in strong contrast with predictions by continuous models, and the transport fingerprints of the ripple disorder are very different from…
We study the effects of quenched height fluctuations (ripples) in graphene on the density of states (DOS). We show that at strong ripple disorder a divergence in the DOS can lead to an ordered ground state. We also discuss the formation of dislocations in corrugated systems, buckling effects in suspended samples, and the changes in the Landau levels due to the interplay between a real magnetic field and the gauge potential induced by ripples.
In previous studies, it proved difficult to realize periodic graphene ripples with wavelengths of few nanometers. Here we show that one-dimensional periodic graphene ripples with wavelengths from 2 nm to tens of nanometers can be implemented in the intrinsic areas of a continuous mosaic, locally N-doped, graphene monolayer by simultaneously using both the thermal strain engineering and the anisotropic surface stress of Cu substrate. Our result indicates that the constraint imposed at the boundaries between the intrinsic and the N-doped regions play a vital role in creating these 1D ripples. We…
With use of carefully designed molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate tuning of dynamic ripples in free-standing graphene by applying a local out-of-plane sinusoidal excitation. Depending on the boundary conditions and external modulation, we show control of the local dynamic morphology, including flattening and stable rippling patterns. In addition to studying the dynamic response of atomically thin layers to external time-varying excitation, our results open intriguing possibilities for modulating their properties via local dynamic morphology control.
Application of an in-plane magnetic field to rippled graphene will make the system be a plane with randomly distributed vector potentials. Massless Dirac fermions carrying charges on graphene are scattered by the vector potentials and magnetoresistance is induced proportional to the square of amplitude of in-plane magnetic field $B_{\parallel}^2$. Recently, Lundeberg and Folk proposed a formula showing dependence of the magnetoresistance on carrier density, in which the coefficient of $B_{\parallel}^2$ is given by a functional of the height-correlation function $c(r)$ of ripples. In the presen…
We report measurements of the effects of a random vector potential generated by applying an in-plane magnetic field to a graphene flake. Magnetic flux through the ripples cause orbital effects: phase-coherent weak localization is suppressed, while quasi-random Lorentz forces lead to anisotropic magnetoresistance. Distinct signatures of these two effects enable an independent estimation of the ripple amplitude and correlation length.
We analyze spin scattering in ballistic transport of electrons through a ripple at a normal incidence of an electron flow. The model of a ripple consists of a curved graphene surface in the form of an arc of a circle connected from the left-hand and right-hand sides to two flat graphene sheets. At certain conditions the curvature induced spin-orbit coupling creates a transparent window for incoming electrons with one spin polarization simultaneously with a backscattering of those with opposite polarization. This window is equally likely transparent for electrons with spin up and spin down that…
It is now possible to produce graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with atomically defined widths. GNRs offer many opportunities for electronic devices and composites, if it is possible to establish the link between edge structure and functionalisation, and resultant GNR properties. Switching hydrogen edge termination to larger more complex functional groups such as hydroxyls or thiols induces strain at the ribbon edge. However we show that this strain is then relieved via the formation of static out-of-plane ripples. The resultant ribbons have a significantly reduced Young's Modulus which varies as a …
We report a quantum study of the carrier scattering induced by graphene ripples. Crucial differences between the scattering induced by the ripple and ordinary scattering were found. In contrast to the latter, in which the Born approximation is valid for high-energy process, the former is valid for the low-energy process with a quite broad energy range. Furthermore, in polar symmetry ripples, the scattering amplitude exhibits a pseudo-spin structure, an additional factor $\cosθ/2$, which leads to an absence of backward scattering. We also elucidate that the scattering cross sections are proport…
We discuss the possibility to create hybrid quantum systems that combine ultracold atoms with graphene membranes. We investigate a setup in which a cold atom cloud is placed close to a free-standing sheet of graphene at distances on the order of a few hundred nanometers. The atoms then couple to the graphene membrane via Casimir-Polder forces. Temporal changes in the atomic state of the atomic cloud changes the Casimir-Polder interaction, thereby leading to the creation of a backaction force in the graphene sheet. This setup provides a controllable way to engineer ripples in a graphene sheet.
Decoupling the effects of ripples from tensile strain on the thermal conductivity of graphene and understanding the role of curvature on the thermal conductivity of graphene with grain boundaries
Graphene on a dielectric substrate exhibits spatial doping inhomogeneities, forming electron-hole puddles. Understanding and controlling the latter is of crucial importance for unraveling many of graphene's fundamental properties at the Dirac point. Here we show the coexistence and correlation of charge puddles and topographic ripples in graphene decoupled from the metallic substrate it was grown on. The analysis of interferences of Dirac fermion-like electrons yields a linear dispersion relation, indicating that graphene on a metal can recover its intrinsic electronic properties.
We analyze elastic deformations of graphene sheets which lead to effective gauge fields acting on the charge carriers. Corrugations in the substrate induce stresses, which, in turn, can give rise to mechanical instabilities and the formation of wrinkles. Similar effects may take place in suspended graphene samples under tension.
Thermal ripples of graphene are well understood at room temperature, but their quantum counterparts at low temperatures are still in need of a realistic quantitative description. Here we present atomistic path-integral Monte Carlo simulations of freestanding graphene, which show upon cooling a striking classical-quantum evolution of height and angular fluctuations. The crossover takes place at ever-decreasing temperatures for ever-increasing wavelengths so that a completely quantum regime is never attained. Zero-temperature quantum graphene is flatter and smoother than classical at large scale…
We study the effect of disordered ripples on the conductivity of monolayer graphene flakes. We calculate the relaxation times and the Boltzmann conductivities associated with two mechanisms. First, we study the conductivity correction due to an external in-plane magnetic field $B_\parallel$. Due to the irregular local curvature found at graphene sheets deposited over a substrate, $B_\parallel$ can be mapped into an effective random magnetic field perpendicular to the graphene surface. Second, we study the electron momentum relaxation due to intrinsic pseudo magnetic fields originated from defo…
Using the example of graphene, we have extended the classic ripple tank experiment to illustrate the behavior of waves in periodic lattices. A loudspeaker driving air through a periodically perforated plate onto the tank's water surface creates wave patterns that are in agreement with numerical simulations and are explained in terms of solid state theory. From an educational point of view, the experiment provides an illustrative example of the concepts of reciprocal space and symmetry.
We propose a theory of ripples in suspended graphene sheets based on two-dimensional elasticity equations that are made discrete on the honeycomb lattice and then periodized. At each point carbon atoms are coupled to Ising spins whose values indicate the atoms local trend to move vertically off-plane. The Ising spins are in contact with a thermal bath and evolve according to Glauber dynamics. In the limit of slow spin flip compared to membrane vibrations, ripples with no preferred orientation appear as long-lived metastable states for any temperature. Numerical solutions confirm this picture.
The exceptionally high mobility of carriers in graphene is one of its defining characteristics, especially in view of potential applications. Therefore it is of both practical and fundamental importance to understand the mechanisms responsible for limiting the values of mobility. The aim of the paper is to study theoretically one such mechanism, i.e. scattering on ripples. The transport properties of rippled graphene are studied using using single-band tight-binding model. Both the bond-length variation, corresponding to the vector potential in the effective mass picture, and fluctuating scala…
Density functional theory (DFT) modeling of the physisorption of four different types of molecules (toluene, bromine dimmer, water and nitrogen dioxide) over and above graphene ripples has been performed. For all types of molecules changes of charge transfer and binding energies in respect to flat graphene is found. The changes in electronic structure of corrugated graphene and turn of π-orbitals of carbon atoms in combination with chemical structure of adsorbed molecules are proposed as the causes of difference with the perfect graphene case and variety of adsorption properties of different t…
We report an exact map into one dimensional effective chains, of the tight-binding Hamiltonian for electrons in armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbons with any uniaxial ripple. This mapping is used for studying the effect of uniaxial periodic ripples, taking into account the relative orientation changes between $π$ orbitals. Such effects are important for short wavelength ripples, while for long-wave ones, the system behaves nearly as strained graphene. The spectrum has a complex nature, akin to the Hofstadter butterfly with a rich localization behavior. Gaps at the Fermi level and dispersio…
We have used Ultrahigh Vacuum (UHV) Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to investigate the effect of thermal annealing of graphene grown by chemical vapour deposition (CVD) on a Cu(110) foil. We show that the annealing appears to induce a reconstruction of the Cu surface along the [210] direction, with a period of 1.43 nm. Such reconstructions have been ascribed to the tensile strain induced in the Cu surface by differential thermal expansion of it relative to the graphene overlayer, but we show that it is in fact a Moiré pattern due to interference between the graphene and the underlying atom…
We argue that the unscreened Coulomb interaction in graphene provides a positive, universal, and logarithmic correction to scaling of zero-temperature conductivity with frequency. The combined effect of the disorder due to wrinkling of the graphene sheet and the long range electron-electron interactions is a finite positive contribution to the dc conductivity. This contribution is disorder strength dependent and thus non-universal. The low-energy behavior of such a system is governed by the line of fixed points at which both the interaction and disorder are finite, and the density of states is…
The amount of rippling in graphene sheets is related to the interactions with the substrate or with the suspending structure. Here, we report on an irreversibility in the response to forces that act on suspended graphene sheets. This may explain why one always observes a ripple structure on suspended graphene. We show that a compression-relaxation mechanism produces static ripples on graphene sheets and determine a peculiar temperature $T_c$, such that for $T<T_c$ the free-energy of the rippled graphene is smaller than that of roughened graphene. We also show that $T_c$ depends on the structur…
Ripples in pristine freestanding graphene naturally orient themselves in an array that is alternately curved-up and curved-down; maintaining an average height of zero. Using scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) to apply a local force, the graphene sheet will reversibly rise and fall in height until the height reaches 60-70 percent of its maximum at which point a sudden, permanent jump occurs. We successfully model the ripples as a spin-half Ising magnetic system, where the height of the graphene is the spin. The permanent jump in height, controlled by the tunneling current, is found to be equiv…
In nanofabrication, just as in any other craft, the scale of spatial details is limited by the dimensions of the tool at hand. For example, the smallest details for direct laser writing with far-field light are set by the diffraction limit, which is approximately half of the used wavelength. In this work, we overcome this universal assertion by optically forging graphene ripples that show features with dimensions unlimited by diffraction. Thin sheet elasticity simulations suggest that the scaled-down ripples originate from the interplay between substrate adhesion, in-plane strain, and circular…
We propose a model of ripples in suspended graphene sheets based on plate equations that are made discrete with the periodicity of the honeycomb lattice and then periodized. In addition, the equation for the displacements with respect to the planar configuration contains a double-well site potential, a nonlinear friction and a multiplicative white noise term satisfying the fluctuation-dissipation theorem. The nonlinear friction terms agree with those proposed by Eichler et al [Nature Nanotech. {\bf 6}, 339 (2011)] to explain their experiments with a graphene resonator. The site double-well pot…
Using electrical transport experiments and shot noise thermometry, we find strong evidence that "supercollision" scattering processes by flexural modes are the dominant electron-phonon energy transfer mechanism in high-quality, suspended graphene around room temperature. The power law dependence of the electron-phonon coupling changes from cubic to quintic with temperature. The change of the temperature exponent by two is reflected in the quadratic dependence on chemical potential, which is an inherent feature of two-phonon quantum processes.
The stability of two-dimensional (2D) layers and membranes is subject of a long standing theoretical debate. According to the so called Mermin-Wagner theorem, long wavelength fluctuations destroy the long-range order for 2D crystals. Similarly, 2D membranes embedded in a 3D space have a tendency to be crumpled. These dangerous fluctuations can, however, be suppressed by anharmonic coupling between bending and stretching modes making that a two-dimensional membrane can exist but should present strong height fluctuations. The discovery of graphene, the first truly 2D crystal and the recent exper…
The two-dimensional nature of graphene Josephson junctions offers the possibility of creating effective superconductor-ferromagnet-superconductor junctions with tunable Zeeman splitting caused by an in-plane magnetic field. Such junctions would be able to alternate between a conventional superconducting ground state and a ground state with an intrinsic phase difference, making them controllable $0-π$ Josephson junctions. However, in addition to the Zeeman splitting, an in-plane magnetic field will in general also produce an orbital effect because of height variations in graphene, colloquially …
Theoretical research has predicted that ripples of graphene generates effective gauge field on its low energy electronic structure and could lead to zero-energy flat bands, which are the analog of Landau levels in real magnetic fields. Here we demonstrate, using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and tight-binding approximation, that the zero-energy Landau levels with vanishing Fermi velocities will form when the effective pseudomagnetic flux per ripple is larger than the flux quantum. Our analysis indicates that the effective gauge field of the ripples results in zero-energy flat …
Single-layer graphene sheets are typically characterized by long-wavelength corrugations (ripples) which can be shown to be at the origin of rather strong potentials with both scalar and vector components. We present an extensive microscopic study, based on a self-consistent Kohn-Sham-Dirac density-functional method, of the carrier density distribution in the presence of these ripple-induced external fields. We find that spatial density fluctuations are essentially controlled by the scalar component, especially in nearly-neutral graphene sheets, and that in-plane atomic displacements are as im…
Emergence of a Helical Metal in Rippled Ultrathin Topological Insulator Sb\textsubscript{2}Te\textsubscript{3} on Graphene
Universidad de Chile（智利大学）；CEDENNA；Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez（阿道夫·伊巴涅斯大学）；Stanford University（斯坦福大学）；Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María（弗雷德里科·圣塔玛利亚技术大学）
We study the changes induced by the effective gauge field due to ripples on the low energy electronic structure of graphene. We show that zero energy Landau levels will form, associated to the smooth deformation of the graphene layer, when the height corrugation, $h$, and the length of the ripple, $l$, are such that $h^2 / (l a) \gtrsim 1$, where $a$ is the lattice constant. The existence of localized levels gives rise to a large compressibility at zero energy, and to the enhancement of instabilities arising from electron-electron interactions including electronic phase separation. The combine…
Only one atom thick and not inclined to lattice defects, graphene represents the ultimate crystalline membrane. However, its structure reveals unique features not found in other crystalline membranes, in particular the existence of ripples with wavelength of 100-300 Angstroms. Here, I trace the origin of this difference to the free electrons in the membrane. The deformation energy of the lattice creates a coupling between charge fluctuations and the structure, resulting in ripples on the membrane, correlated with charge inhomogeneities. In graphene this mechanism reproduces the experimental re…
The electromagnetic radiation of electrons in the corrugated graphene in the presence of the transport electric current in the ballistic regime is studied. Radiation of the similar nature can be observed in undulator and wiggler. We considered here an impact of the ripples in the monolayer graphene on its electromagnetic properties. The electromagnetic radiation was actually calculated with a use of the standard electromagnetic theory. Two cases, of regular and random structures are analyzed. Nonlinear relation between the random height function h(x,y) and the gauge field is shown to create th…
We consider a single-layer graphene with high ripples, so that the pseudo-magnetic fields due to these ripples are strong. If the magnetic length corresponding to a typical pseudo-magnetic field is smaller than the ripple size, the resulting Landau levels are local. Then the effective properties of the macroscopic sample can be calculated by averaging the local properties over the distribution of ripples. We find that this averaging does not wash out the Landau quantization completely. Average density of states (DOS) contains a feature (inflection point) at energy corresponding to the first La…
The effects of a propagating sinusoidal out-of-plane flexural deformation in the electronic properties of a tense membrane of graphene are considered within a non-perturbative approach, leading to an electron-ripple coupling. The deformation is taken into account by introducing its corresponding pseudo-vector and pseudo-scalar potentials in the Dirac equation. By using a transformation to the time-cone of the strain wave, the Dirac equation is reduced to an ordinary second-order differential Matthieu equation, i.e., to a parametric pendulum, giving a spectrum of bands and gaps determined by re…
The electronic behavior in graphene under arbitrary uniaxial deformations, such as foldings or flexural fields is studied by including in the Dirac equation pseudoelectromagnetic fields. General foldings are thus studied by showing that uniaxial deformations can be considered pseudomagnetic fields in the Coulomb gauge norm. This allows to give an expression for the Fermi (zero) energy modes wavefunctions. For random deformations, contact is made with previous works on the quantum Hall effect under random magnetic fields, showing that the density of states has a power law behavior and that the …
3D topological insulators, similar to the Dirac material graphene, host linearly dispersing states with unique properties and a strong potential for applications. A key, missing element in realizing some of the more exotic states in topological insulators is the ability to manipulate local electronic properties. Analogy with graphene suggests a possible avenue via a topographic route by the formation of superlattice structures such as a moiré patterns or ripples, which can induce controlled potential variations. However, while the charge and lattice degrees of freedom are intimately coupled in…
We have carried out scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements on exfoliated monolayer graphene on SiO$_2$ to probe the correlation between its electronic and structural properties. Maps of the local density of states are characterized by electron and hole puddles that arise due to long range intravalley scattering from intrinsic ripples in graphene and random charged impurities. At low energy, we observe short range intervalley scattering which we attribute to lattice defects. Our results demonstrate that the electronic properties of graphene are influenced by intrinsic ripples, defects and…
We have studied temperature dependences of electron transport in graphene and its bilayer and found extremely low electron-phonon scattering rates that set the fundamental limit on possible charge carrier mobilities at room temperature. Our measurements have shown that mobilities significantly higher than 200,000 cm2/Vs are achievable, if extrinsic disorder is eliminated. A sharp (threshold-like) increase in resistivity observed above approximately 200K is unexpected but can qualitatively be understood within a model of a rippled graphene sheet in which scattering occurs on intra-ripple flexur…
In the letter "Phys. Rev. Lett 104, 196804 (2010)" the compression-relaxation mechanism (CRM) for a graphene sheet (GS) was reported to be irreversible and resulted in static ripples on GS, such that for T <Tc the free-energy of the rippled GS is smaller than that of roughened GS. We will point out several technical difficulties, such as the use of the relation Delta A=<W> for the free energy calculations and the definition of the rough state, with their simulations. We show that (at T <Tc) their introduced rough state suffer boundary stress, thus is a rippled state and their obtained inequali…
We discuss various scattering mechanisms for Dirac fermions in single-layer graphene. It is shown that scattering on a short-range potential (due to, for example, neutral impurities) is mostly irrelevant for electronic quality of graphene, which is likely to be controlled by charged impurities and ripples (microscopic corrugations of a graphene sheet). The latter are an inherent feature of graphene due to its two-dimensional nature and can also be an important factor in defining the electron mean free path. We show that certain types of ripples create a long-range scattering potential, similar…
We investigate the organized formation of strain, ripples and suspended features in macroscopic CVD-prepared graphene sheets transferred onto a corrugated substrate made of an ordered arrays of silica pillars of variable geometries. Depending on the aspect ratio and sharpness of the corrugated array, graphene can conformally coat the surface, partially collapse, or lay, fakir-like, fully suspended between pillars over tens of micrometers. Upon increase of pillar density, ripples in collapsed films display a transition from random oriented pleats emerging from pillars to ripples linking nearest…
The nature of its intrinsic ripples is the key factor for understanding the stability of suspended graphene, and for unraveling the long-standing theoretical debate of the existence of low-dimensional crystalline state. The rippling morphology of graphene, discovered also in other 2D materials, has a profound impact on its electronic, mechanical and chemical properties. Actually, before the discovery of graphene, rippling phenomena are widely observed: for example, the roughing transition of crystalline interface, the rippled phase in biomembrane, and crumpling of flexible sheet polymers model…
Intrinsic ripples in freestanding graphene have been exceedingly difficult to study. Individual ripple geometry was recently imaged using scanning tunneling microscopy, but these measurements are limited to static configurations. Thermally-activated flexural phonon modes should generate dynamic changes in curvature. Here we show how to track the vertical movement of a one-square-angstrom region of freestanding graphene using scanning tunneling microscopy, thereby allowing measurement of the out-of-plane time trajectory and fluctuations over long time periods. We also present a model from elast…
We study thermal fluctuations of a free-standing bilayer graphene subject to vanishing external tension. Within a phenomenological theory, the system is described as a stack of two continuum crystalline membranes, characterized by finite elastic moduli and a nonzero bending rigidity. A nonlinear rotationally-invariant model guided by elasticity theory is developed to describe interlayer interactions. After neglection of in-plane phonon nonlinearities and anharmonic interactions involving interlayer shear and compression modes, an effective theory for soft flexural fluctuations of the bilayer i…
We investigate how the criticality of the quantum Hall plateau transition in disordered graphene differs from those in the ordinary quantum Hall systems, based on the honeycomb lattice with ripples modeled as random hoppings. The criticality of the graphene-specific n=0 Landau level is found to change dramatically to an anomalous, almost exact fixed point as soon as we make the random hopping spatially correlated over a few bond lengths. We attribute this to the preserved chiral symmetry and suppressed scattering between K and K' points in the Brillouin zone. The results suggest that a fixed p…
We show that the interaction between flexural phonons, when corrected by the exchange of electron-hole excitations, may place the graphene sheet very close to a quantum critical point characterized by the strong suppression of the bending rigidity of the membrane. Ripples arise then due to spontaneous symmetry breaking, following a mechanism similar to that responsible for the condensation of the Higgs field in relativistic field theories. In the presence of membrane tensions, ripple condensation may be reinforced or suppressed depending on the sign of the tension, following a zero-temperature…
Graphene is a famous realization of elastic crystalline 2D membrane. Thermal fluctuations of a 2D membrane tend to destroy the long-range order in the system. Such fluctuations are stabilized by strong anharmonicity effects, which preserve thermodynamic stability. The anharmonic effects demonstrate critical behaviour on scales larger than the Ginzburg scale. In particular, clean suspended flake of graphene shows a power-law increase of the bending rigidity with the system size, $\varkappa\propto L^η,$ due to anharmonic interaction between in-plane and out-of-plane (flexural) phonon modes. We d…
We study the influence of ripple waves originating from the electromechanical effects on spin relaxation caused by electromagnetic fields in armchair and zigzag graphene nanoribbons (GNRs). By utilizing analytical expressions supported by numerical simulations, we show that it is possible to tune the spin flip behaviors ON and OFF due to ripple waves in GNRs for potential applications in straintronic devices. This finding is similar to recently made observations on the design of spintronic devices in III-V semiconductor quantum dots, where the sign change in the effective Land$\mathrm{\acute{e…
We study transmission in a system consisting of a curved graphene surface as an arc (ripple) of circle connected to two flat graphene sheets on the left and right sides. We introduce a mass term in the curved part and study the effect of a generated band gap in spectrum on transport properties for spin-up/-down. The tunneling analysis allows us to find all transmission and reflections channels modeled by the band gap. This later acts by decreasing the transmissions with spin-up/-down but increasing with spin opposite, which exhibit some behaviors look like bell-shaped curve. We find resonances…
