No Arabic abstract
Among two-dimensional atomic crystals, hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is one of the most remarkable materials to fabricate heterostructures revealing unusual properties. We perform first-principles calculations to determine whether intercalated metal atoms and vacancies can mediate interfacial coupling and influence the structural and electronic properties of the graphene/hBN heterostructure. Metal impurity atoms (Li, K, Cr, Mn, Co, and Cu) as extrinsic defects between the graphene and hBN sheets produce $n$-doped graphene. We also consider intrinsic vacancy defects and find that a boron monovacancy in hBN act as a magnetic dopant for graphene whereas a nitrogen monovacancy in hBN serves as a nonmagnetic dopant for graphene. In contrast, smallest triangular vacancy defects in hBN are unlikely to result in significant changes in the electronic transport of graphene. Our findings reveal that the hBN layer with some vacancies or metal impurities enhance the interlayer coupling in the graphene/hBN heterostructure with respect to charge doping and electron scattering.
Graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (G/$h$-BN) heterostructures offer an excellent platform for developing nanoelectronic devices and for exploring correlated states in graphene under modulation by a periodic superlattice potential. Here, we report on transport measurements of nearly $0^{circ}$-twisted G/$h$-BN heterostructures. The heterostructures investigated are prepared by dry transfer and thermally annealing processes and are in the low mobility regime (approximately $3000~mathrm{cm}^{2}mathrm{V}^{-1}mathrm{s}^{-1}$ at 1.9 K). The replica Dirac spectra and Hofstadter butterfly spectra are observed on the hole transport side, but not on the electron transport side, of the heterostructures. We associate the observed electron-hole asymmetry to the presences of a large difference between the opened gaps in the conduction and valence bands and a strong enhancement in the interband contribution to the conductivity on the electron transport side in the low-mobility G/$h$-BN heterostructures. We also show that the gaps opened at the central Dirac point and the hole-branch secondary Dirac point are large, suggesting the presence of strong graphene-substrate interaction and electron-electron interaction in our G/$h$-BN heterostructures. Our results provide additional helpful insight into the transport mechanism in G/$h$-BN heterostructures.
The design of stacks of layered materials in which adjacent layers interact by van der Waals forces[1] has enabled the combination of various two-dimensional crystals with different electrical, optical and mechanical properties, and the emergence of novel physical phenomena and device functionality[2-8]. Here we report photo-induced doping in van der Waals heterostructures (VDHs) consisting of graphene and boron nitride layers. It enables flexible and repeatable writing and erasing of charge doping in graphene with visible light. We demonstrate that this photo-induced doping maintains the high carrier mobility of the graphene-boron nitride (G/BN) heterostructure, which resembles the modulation doping technique used in semiconductor heterojunctions, and can be used to generate spatially-varying doping profiles such as p-n junctions. We show that this photo-induced doping arises from microscopically coupled optical and electrical responses of G/BN heterostructures, which includes optical excitation of defect transitions in boron nitride, electrical transport in graphene, and charge transfer between boron nitride and graphene.
The current research in graphene spintronics strives for achieving a long spin lifetime, and efficient spin injection and detection in graphene. In this article, we review how hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) has evolved as a crucial substrate, as an encapsulation layer, and as a tunnel barrier for manipulation and control of spin lifetimes and spin injection/detection polarizations in graphene spin valve devices. First, we give an overview of the challenges due to conventional SiO$_2$ substrate for spin transport in graphene followed by the progress made in hBN based graphene heterostructures. Then we discuss in detail the shortcomings and developments in using conventional oxide tunnel barriers for spin injection into graphene followed by introducing the recent advancements in using the crystalline single/bi/tri-layer hBN tunnel barriers for an improved spin injection and detection which also can facilitate two-terminal spin valve and Hanle measurements, at room temperature, and are of technological importance. A special case of bias induced spin polarization of contacts with exfoliated and chemical vapour deposition (CVD) grown hBN tunnel barriers is also discussed. Further, we give our perspectives on utilizing graphene-hBN heterostructures for future developments in graphene spintronics.
When a crystal is subjected to a periodic potential, under certain circumstances (such as when the period of the potential is close to the crystal periodicity; the potential is strong enough, etc.) it might adjust itself to follow the periodicity of the potential, resulting in a, so called, commensurate state. Such commensurate-incommensurate transitions are ubiquitous phenomena in many areas of condensed matter physics: from magnetism and dislocations in crystals, to vortices in superconductors, and atomic layers adsorbed on a crystalline surface. Of particular interest might be the properties of topological defects between the two commensurate phases: solitons, domain walls, and dislocation walls. Here we report a commensurate-incommensurate transition for graphene on top of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Depending on the rotational angle between the two hexagonal lattices, graphene can either stretch to adjust to a slightly different hBN periodicity (the commensurate state found for small rotational angles) or exhibit little adjustment (the incommensurate state). In the commensurate state, areas with matching lattice constants are separated by domain walls that accumulate the resulting strain. Such soliton-like objects present significant fundamental interest, and their presence might explain recent observations when the electronic, optical, Raman and other properties of graphene-hBN heterostructures have been notably altered.
Color centers in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) are becoming an increasingly important building block for quantum photonic applications. Herein, we demonstrate the efficient coupling of recently discovered spin defects in hBN to purposely designed bullseye cavities. We show that the all monolithic hBN cavity system exhibits an order of magnitude enhancement in the emission of the coupled boron vacancy spin defects. In addition, by comparative finite difference time domain modelling, we shed light on the emission dipole orientation, which has not been experimentally demonstrated at this point. Beyond that, the coupled spin system exhibits an enhanced contrast in optically detected magnetic resonance readout and improved signal to noise ratio. Thus, our experimental results supported by simulations, constitute a first step towards integration of hBN spin defects with photonic resonators for a scalable spin photon interface.