No Arabic abstract
We explore the potential of bilayer graphene as a cryogenic microwave photodetector by studying the microwave absorption in fully suspended clean bilayer graphene pn junctions in the frequency range of $1-5$ GHz at a temperature of 8 K. We observe a distinct photocurrent signal if the device is gated into the pn regime, while there is almost no signal for unipolar doping in either the nn or pp regimes. Most surprisingly, the photocurrent strongly peaks when one side of the junction is gated to the Dirac point (charge-neutrality point CNP), while the other remains in a highly doped state. This is different to previous results where optical radiation was used. We propose a new mechanism based on the phototermal effect explaining the large signal. It requires contact doping and a distinctly different transport mechanism on both sides: one side of graphene is ballistic and the other diffusive. By engineering partially diffusive and partially ballistic devices, the photocurrent can drastically be enhanced.
We demonstrate high-frequency mechanical resonators in ballistic graphene p-n junctions. Fully suspended graphene devices with two bottom gates exhibit ballistic bipolar behavior after current annealing. We determine the graphene mass density and built-in tension for different current annealing steps by comparing the measured mechanical resonant response to a simplified membrane model. We consistently find that after the last annealing step the mass density compares well with the expected density of pure graphene. In a graphene membrane with high built-in tension, but still of macroscopic size with dimensions 3 $times$ 1 $mu m^{2}$, a record resonance frequency of 1.17 GHz is observed after the final current annealing step. We further compare the resonance response measured in the unipolar with the one in the bipolar regime. Remarkably, the resonant signals are strongly enhanced in the bipolar regime. This enhancement is caused in part by the Fabry-Perot resonances that appear in the bipolar regime and possibly also by the photothermoelectric effect that can be very pronounced in graphene p-n junctions under microwave irradiation.
We report on realization and quantum transport study of a twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) Josephson junction device. High-quality tBLG employed in the device fabrication is obtained via chemical vapour deposition and the device is fabricated by contacting a piece of tBLG by two closely spaced Al electrodes in an Al-tBLG-Al Josephson junction configuration. Low-temperature transport measurements show that below the critical temperature of the Al electrodes ($T_capprox1.1$ K), the device exhibits sizable supercurrents at zero magnetic field, arising from the superconducting proximity effect with high contact transparency in the device. In the measurements of the critical supercurrent as a function of perpendicularly applied magnetic field, a standard Fraunhofer-like pattern of oscillations is observed, indicating a uniform supercurrent distribution inside the junction. Multiple Andreev reflection characteristics are also observed in the spectroscopy measurements of the device, and their magnetic field and temperature dependencies are found to be well described by the Bardeen$-$Cooper$-$Schrieffer theory.
Although the detection of light at terahertz (THz) frequencies is important for a large range of applications, current detectors typically have several disadvantages in terms of sensitivity, speed, operating temperature, and spectral range. Here, we use graphene as a photoactive material to overcome all of these limitations in one device. We introduce a novel detector for terahertz radiation that exploits the photothermoelectric (PTE) effect, based on a design that employs a dual-gated, dipolar antenna with a gap of 100 nm. This narrow-gap antenna simultaneously creates a pn junction in a graphene channel located above the antenna and strongly concentrates the incoming radiation at this pn junction, where the photoresponse is created. We demonstrate that this novel detector has an excellent sensitivity, with a noise-equivalent power of 80 pW-per-square-root-Hz at room temperature, a response time below 30 ns (setup-limited), a high dynamic range (linear power dependence over more than 3 orders of magnitude) and broadband operation (measured range 1.8-4.2 THz, antenna-limited), which fulfills a combination that is currently missing in the state-of-the-art detectors. Importantly, on the basis of the agreement we obtained between experiment, analytical model, and numerical simulations, we have reached a solid understanding of how the PTE effect gives rise to a THz-induced photoresponse, which is very valuable for further detector optimization.
Bilayer graphene bears an eight-fold degeneracy due to spin, valley and layer symmetry, allowing for a wealth of broken symmetry states induced by magnetic or electric fields, by strain, or even spontaneously by interaction. We study the electrical transport in clean current annealed suspended bilayer graphene. We find two kind of devices. In bilayers of type B1 the eight-fold zero-energy Landau level (LL) is partially lifted above a threshold field revealing an insulating nu=0 quantum Hall state at the charge neutrality point (CNP). In bilayers of type B2 the LL lifting is full and a gap appears in the differential conductance even at zero magnetic field, suggesting an insulating spontaneously broken symmetry state. Unlike B1, the minimum conductance in B2 is not exponentially suppressed, but remains finite with a value G < e^2/h even in a large magnetic field. We suggest that this phase of B2 is insulating in the bulk and bound by compressible edge states.
Using electrical transport experiments and shot noise thermometry, we investigate electron-phonon heat transfer rate in a suspended bilayer graphene. Contrary to monolayer graphene with heat flow via three-body supercollision scattering, we find that regular electron - optical phonon scattering in bilayer graphene provides the dominant scattering process at electron energies $ gtrsim 0.15$ eV. We determine the strength of these intrinsic heat flow processes of bilayer graphene and find good agreement with theoretical estimates when both zone edge and zone center optical phonons are taken into account.