No Arabic abstract
We study structural and electronic properties of graphene grown on SiC substrate using scanning tunneling microscope (STM), spot-profile-analysis low energy electron diffraction (SPA-LEED) and angle resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). We find several new replicas of Dirac cones in the Brillouin zone (BZ). Their locations can be understood in terms of combination of basis vectors linked to SiC 6x6 and graphene 6xsqrt(3) x 6sqrt(3) reconstruction. Therefore these new features originate from the Moie caused by the lattice mismatch between SiC and graphene. More specifically, Dirac cones replicas are caused by underlying weak modulation of the ionic potential by the substrate that is then experienced by the electrons in the graphene. We also demonstrate that this effect is equally strong in single and tri-layer graphene, therefore the additional Dirac cones are intrinsic features rather than result of photoelectron diffraction. These new features in the electronic structure are very important for the interpretation of recent transport measurements and can assist in tuning the properties of graphene for practical applications.
We study the interplay between lateral confinement and photon-induced processes on the electronic properties of illuminated graphene nanoribbons. We find that by tuning the device setup (edges geometries, ribbon width and polarization direction), a laser with frequency {Omega} may either not affect the electronic structure, or induce bandgaps or depletions at hbar {Omega}/2, and/or at other energies not commensurate with half the photon energy. Similar features are also observed in the dc conductance, suggesting the use of the polarization direction to switch on and off the graphene device. Our results could guide the design of novel types of optoelectronic nano-devices.
We investigate the electronic band structure of an undoped graphene armchair nanoribbon. We demonstrate that such nanoribbon always has a gap in its electronic spectrum. Indeed, even in the situations where simple single-electron calculations predict a metallic dispersion, the system is unstable with respect to the deformation of the carbon-carbon bonds dangling at the edges of the armchair nanoribbon. The edge bonds deformation couples electron and hole states with equal momentum. This coupling opens a gap at the Fermi level. In a realistic sample, however, it is unlikely that this instability could be observed in its pure form. Namely, since chemical properties of the dangling carbon atoms are different from chemical properties of the atoms inside the sample (for example, the atoms at the edge have only two neighbours, besides additional non-carbon atoms might be attached to passivate unpaired covalent carbon bonds), it is very probable that the bonds at the edge are deformed due to chemical interactions. This chemically-induced modification of the nanoribbons edges can be viewed as an effective field biasing our predicted instability in a particular direction. Yet by disordering this field (e.g., through random substitution of the radicals attached to the edges) we may tune the system back to the critical regime and vary the electronic properties of the system. For example, we show that electrical transport through a nanoribbon is strongly affected by such disorder.
We introduce a new method to continuously map inhomogeneities of a moire lattice and apply it to large-area topographic images we measure on open-device twisted bilayer graphene (TBG). We show that the variation in the twist angle of a TBG device, which is frequently conjectured to be the reason for differences between devices with a supposed similar twist angle, is about 0.08{deg} around the average of 2.02{deg} over areas of several hundred nm, comparable to devices encapsulated between hBN slabs. We distinguish between an effective twist angle and local anisotropy and relate the latter to heterostrain. Our results imply that for our devices, twist angle heterogeneity has a roughly equal effect to the electronic structure as local strain. The method introduced here is applicable to results from different imaging techniques, and on different moire materials.
The use of Floquet theory combined with a realistic description of the electronic structure of illuminated graphene and graphene nanoribbons is developed to assess the emergence of non-adiabatic and non-perturbative effects on the electronic properties. Here, we introduce an efficient computational scheme and illustrate its use by applying it to graphene nanoribbons in the presence of both linear and circular polarization. The interplay between confinement due to the finite sample size and laser-induced transitions is shown to lead to sharp features on the average conductance and density of states. Particular emphasis is given to the emergence of the bulk limit response.
Stability and electronic properties of atomic layers of GaN are investigated in the framework of the van der Waals-density functional theory. We find that the ground state of the layered GaN is a planar graphene-like configuration rather than a buckled bulk-like configuration. Application of an external perpendicular electric field to the layered GaN induces distinct stacking-dependent features of the tunability of the band gap; the band gap of the monolayer does not change whereas that of the trilayer GaN is significantly reduced for the applied field of 0.4 V/ {AA}. It is suggested that such a stacking-dependent tunability of the band gap in the presence of an applied field may lead to novel applications of the devices based on the layered GaN.