Effects of disorder on the electronic transport properties of graphene are strongly affected by the Dirac nature of the charge carriers in graphene. This is particularly pronounced near the Dirac point, where relativistic charge carriers cannot effic
iently screen the impurity potential. We have studied time-dependent conductance fluctuations and magnetoresistance in graphene in the close vicinity of the Dirac point. We show that the fluctuations are due to the quantum interference effects due to scattering on impurities, and find an unusually large reduction of the relative noise power in magnetic field, possibly indicating that an additional symmetry plays an important role in this regime.
The relativistic nature of Dirac electrons and holes in graphene profoundly affects the way they interact with impurities. Signatures of the relativistic behavior have been observed recently in scanning tunneling measurements on individual impurities
, but the conductance measurements in this regime are typically dominated by electron and hole puddles. Here we present measurements of quantum interference noise and magnetoresistance in graphene pn junctions. Unlike the conductance, the quantum interference noise can provide access to the scattering at the Dirac point:it is sensitive to the motion of a single impurity, it depends strongly on the fundamental symmetries that describe the system and it is determined by the phase-coherent phenomena which are not necessarily obscured by the puddles. The temperature and the carrier density dependence of resistance fluctuations and magnetoresistance in graphene p-n junctions at low temperatures suggest that the noise is dominated by the quantum interference due to scattering on impurities and that the noise minimum could be used to determine the point where the average carrier density is zero. At larger carrier densities, the amplitude of the noise depends strongly on the sign of the impurity charge, reflecting the fact that the electrons and the holes are scattered by the impurity potential in an asymmetric manner.
The relativistic nature of charge carriers in graphene is expected to lead to an angle- dependent transmission through a potential barrier, where Klein tunneling involves annihilation of an electron and a hole at the edges of the barrier. The signatu
res of Klein tunneling have been observed in gated graphene devices, but the angle dependence of the transmission probability has not been directly observed. Here we show measurements of the angle-dependent transmission through quasi-ballistic graphene heterojunctions with straight and angled leads, in which the barrier height is controlled by a shared gate electrode. Using a balanced differential measurement technique, we isolate the angle-dependent contribution to the resistance from other angle-insensitive, gate-dependent and device-dependent effects. We find large oscillations in the transmission as a function of the barrier height in the case of Klein tunneling at a 45 deg angle, as compared to normal incidence. Our results are consistent with the model that predicts oscillations of the transmission probability due to interference of chiral carriers in a ballistic barrier. The observed angle dependence is the key element behind focusing of electrons and the realization of a Veselago lens in graphene.
We have studied quantum interference between electrons and holes in a split-ring gold interferometer with graphene arms, one of which contained a pn junction. The carrier type, the pn junction and the phase of the oscillations in a magnetic field wer
e controlled by a top gate placed over one of the arms. We observe clear Aharonov-Bohm oscillations at the Dirac point and away from it, regardless of the carrier type in each arm. We also find clear oscillations when one arm of the interferometer contains a single pn junction, allowing us to study the interplay of Aharonov-Bohm effect and Klein tunneling.
We describe a catalyst-free vapor-solid synthesis of bismuth selenide (Bi2Se3) nanostructures at ambient pressure with hydrogen as a carrier gas. The nanostructures were synthesized on glass, silicon and mica substrates and the method yields a variet
y of nanostructures: nanowires, nanoribbons, nanoplatelets and nanoflakes. The materials analysis shows high chemical purity in all cases, without sacrificing the crystalline structure of Bi2Se3. Low-temperature measurements of the nanostructures indicate contributions from the surface states with a tunable carrier density. Samples synthesized on flexible mica substrates show no significant change in resistance upon bending, indicating robustness of as-grown Bi2Se3 nanostructures and their suitability for device applications.
