No Arabic abstract
We propose a method of measuring the electron temperature $T_e$ in mesoscopic conductors and demonstrate experimentally its applicability to micron-size graphene devices in the linear-response regime ($T_eapprox T$, the bath temperature). The method can be {especially useful} in case of overheating, $T_e>T$. It is based on analysis of the correlation function of mesoscopic conductance fluctuations. Although the fluctuation amplitude strongly depends on the details of electron scattering in graphene, we show that $T_e$ extracted from the correlation function is insensitive to these details.
We analyze the effect of screening provided by the additional graphene layer in double layer graphene heterostructures (DLGs) on transport characteristics of DLG devices in the metallic regime. The effect of gate-tunable charge density in the additional layer is two-fold: it provides screening of the long-range potential of charged defects in the system, and screens out Coulomb interactions between charge carriers. We find that the efficiency of defect charge screening is strongly dependent on the concentration and location of defects within the DLG. In particular, only a moderate suppression of electron-hole puddles around the Dirac point induced by the high concentration of remote impurities in the silicon oxide substrate could be achieved. A stronger effect is found on the elastic relaxation rate due to charged defects resulting in mobility strongly dependent on the electron denisty in the additional layer of DLG. We find that the quantum interference correction to the resistivity of graphene is also strongly affected by screening in DLG. In particular, the dephasing rate is strongly suppressed by the additional screening that supresses the amplitude of electron-electron interaction and reduces the diffusion time that electrons spend in proximity of each other. The latter effect combined with screening of elastic relaxation rates results in a peculiar gate tunable weak-localization magnetoresistance and quantum correction to resistivity. We propose suitable experiments to test our theory and discuss the possible relevance of our results to exisiting data.
In a multi-layer electronic system, stacking order provides a rarely-explored degree of freedom for tuning its electronic properties. Here we demonstrate the dramatically different transport properties in trilayer graphene (TLG) with different stacking orders. At the Dirac point, ABA-stacked TLG remains metallic while the ABC counterpart becomes insulating. The latter exhibits a gap-like dI/dV characteristics at low temperature and thermally activated conduction at higher temperatures, indicating an intrinsic gap ~6 meV. In magnetic fields, in addition to an insulating state at filling factor { u}=0, ABC TLG exhibits quantum Hall plateaus at { u}=-30, pm 18, pm 9, each of which splits into 3 branches at higher fields. Such splittings are signatures of the Lifshitz transition induced by trigonal warping, found only in ABC TLG, and in semi-quantitative agreement with theory. Our results underscore the rich interaction-induced phenomena in trilayer graphene with different stacking orders, and its potential towards electronic applications.
We calculate quantum transport for metal-graphene nanoribbon heterojunctions within the atomistic self-consistent Schrodinger/Poisson scheme. Attention is paid on both the chemical aspects of the interface bonding as well the one-dimensional electrostatics along the ribbon length. Band-bending and doping effects strongly influence the transport properties, giving rise to conductance asymmetries and a selective suppression of the subband formation. Junction electrostatics and p-type characteristics drive the conduction mechanism in the case of high work function Au, Pd and Pt electrodes, while contact resistance becomes dominant in the case of Al.
Antiferromagnetic insulators (AFMI) are robust against stray fields, and their intrinsic dynamics could enable ultrafast magneto-optics and ultrascaled magnetic information processing. Low dissipation, long distance spin transport and electrical manipulation of antiferromagnetic order are much sought-after goals of spintronics research. Here, we report the first experimental evidence of robust long-distance spin transport through an AFMI, in our case the gate-controlled, canted antiferromagnetic (CAF) state that appears at the charge neutrality point of graphene in the presence of an external magnetic field. Utilizing gate-controlled quantum Hall (QH) edge states as spin-dependent injectors and detectors, we observe large, non-local electrical signals across a 5 micron-long, insulating channel only when it is biased into the nu=0 CAF state. Among possible transport mechanisms, spin superfluidity in an antiferromagnetic state gives the most consistent interpretation of the non-local signals dependence on magnetic field, temperature and filling factors. This work also demonstrates that graphene in the QH regime is a powerful model system for fundamental studies of antiferromagnetic, and in the case of a large in-plane field, ferromagnetic spintronics.
Bismuth crystal is known for its remarkable properties resulting from particular electronic states, e. g., the Shubnikov-de Haas effect and the de Haas-van Alphen effect. Above all, the large diamagnetism of bismuth had been a long-standing puzzle soon after the establishment of quantum mechanics, which had been resolved eventually in 1970 based on the effective Hamiltonian derived by Wolff as due to the interband effects of a magnetic field in the presence of a large spin-orbit interaction. This Hamiltonian is essentially the same as the Dirac Hamiltonian, but with spatial anisotropy and an effective velocity much smaller than the light velocity. This paper reviews recent progress in the theoretical understanding of transport and optical properties, such as the weak-field Hall effect together with the spin Hall effect, and ac conductivity, of a system described by the Wolff Hamiltonian and its isotropic version with a special interest of exploring possible relationship with orbital magnetism. It is shown that there exist a fundamental relationship between spin Hall conductivity and orbital susceptibility in the insulating state on one hand, and the possibility of fully spin-polarized electric current in magneto-optics. Experimental tests of these interesting features have been proposed.