Plasmons are usually described in terms of macroscopic quantities such as electric fields and currents. However as fundamental excitations of metals they are also quantum objects with internal structure. We demonstrate that this can induce an intrins
ic dipole moment which is tied to the quantum geometry of the Hilbert space of plasmon states. This {it quantum geometric dipole} offers a unique handle for manipulation of plasmon dynamics, via density modulations and electric fields. As a concrete example we demonstrate that scattering of plasmons with non-vanishing quantum geometric dipole from impurities is non-reciprocal, skewing in different directions in a valley-dependent fashion. This internal structure can be used to control plasmon trajectories in two dimensional materials.
We discuss plasmons of biased twisted bilayer graphene when the Fermi level lies inside the gap. The collective excitations are a network of chiral edge plasmons (CEP) entirely composed of excitations in the topological electronic edge states (EES) t
hat appear at the AB-BA interfaces. The CEP form an hexagonal network with an unique energy scale $epsilon_p=frac{e^2}{epsilon_0epsilon t_0}$ with $t_0$ the moire lattice constant and $epsilon$ the dielectric constant. From the dielectric matrix we obtain the plasmon spectra that has two main characteristics: (i) a diverging density of states at zero energy, and (ii) the presence of a plasmonic Dirac cone at $hbaromegasimepsilon_p/2$ with sound velocity $v_D=0.0075c$, which is formed by zigzag and armchair current oscillations. A network model reveals that the antisymmetry of the plasmon bands implies that CEP scatter at the hexagon vertices maximally in the deflected chiral outgoing directions, with a current ratio of 4/9 into each of the deflected directions and 1/9 into the forward one. We show that scanning near-field microscopy should be able to observe the predicted plasmonic Dirac cone and its broken symmetry phases.
We study a two-dimensional electron gas exchanged-coupled to a system of classical magnetic ions. For large Rashba spin-orbit coupling a single electron can become self-trapped in a skyrmion spin texture self-induced in the magnetic ions system. This
new quasiparticle carries electrical and topological charge as well as a large spin, and we named it as magnetic skyrmionic polaron. We study the range of parameters; temperature, exchange coupling, Rashba coupling and magnetic field, for which the magnetic skyrmionic polaron is the fundamental state in the system. The dynamics of this quasiparticle is studied using the collective coordinate approximation, and we obtain that in presence of an electric field the new quasiparticle shows, because the chirality of the skyrmion, a Hall effect. Finally we argue that the magnetic skyrmionic polarons can be found in large Rashba spin-orbit coupling semiconductors as GeMnTe.
Graphene nanoribbons with zigzag terminated edges have a magnetic ground state characterized by edge ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetic inter edge coupling. This broken symmetry state is degenerate in the spin orientation and we show that, associat
ed with this degeneracy, the system has topological solitons. The solitons appear at the interface between degenerate ground states. These solitons are the relevant charge excitations in the system. When charge is added to the nanoribbon, the system energetically prefers to create magnetic domains and accommodate the extra electrons in the interface solitons rather than setting them in the conduction band.
We study the effects that ripples induce on the electrical and magnetic properties of graphene. The variation of the interatomic distance created by the ripples translates in a modulation of the hopping parameter between carbon atoms. A tight binding
Hamiltonian including a Hubbard interaction term is solved self consistently for ripples with different amplitudes and periods. We find that, for values of the Hubbard interaction $U$ above a critical value $U_C$, the system displays a superposition of local ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic ordered states. Nonetheless the global ferromagnetic order parameter is zero. The $U_C$ depends only on the product of the period and hopping amplitude modulation. When the Hubbard interaction is close to the critical value of the antiferromagnetic transition in pristine graphene, the antiferromagnetic order parameter becomes much larger than the ferromagnetic one, being the ground state similar to that of flat graphene.
We analyze the energy spectrum of graphene in the presence of spin-orbit coupling and a unidirectionally periodic Zeeman field, focusing on the stability and location of Dirac points it may support. It is found that the Dirac points at the $K$ and $K
$ points are generically moved to other locations in the Brillouin zone, but that they remain present when the Zeeman field $vec{Delta}(x)$ integrates to zero within a unit cell. A large variety of locations for the Dirac points is shown to be possible: when $vecDelta parallel hat{z}$ they are shifted from their original locations along the direction perpendicular to the superlattice axis, while realizations of $vecDelta(x)$ that rotate periodically move the Dirac points to locations that can reflect the orbit of the rotating electron spin as it moves through a unit cell. When a uniform Zeeman field is applied in addition to a periodic $vecDelta parallel hat{z}$ integrating to zero, the system can be brought into a metallic, Dirac semimetal, or insulating state, depending on the direction of the uniform field. The latter is shown to be an anomalous quantum Hall insulator.
We study the electronic and transport properties of a topological insulator nanowire including selective magnetic doping of its surfaces. We use a model which is appropriate to describe materials like Bi$_2$Se$_3$ within a k.p approximation and consi
der nanowires with a rectangular geometry. Within this model the magnetic doping at the (111) surfaces induces a Zeeman field which opens a gap at the Dirac cones corresponding to the surface states. For obtaining the transport properties in a two terminal configuration we use a recursive Green function method based on a tight-binding model which is obtained by discretizing the original continuous model. For the case of uniform magnetization of two opposite nanowire (111) surfaces we show that the conductance can switch from a quantized value of $e^2/h$ (when the magnetizations are equal) to a very small value (when they are opposite). We also analyze the case of non-uniform magnetizations in which the Zeeman field on the two opposite surfaces change sign at the middle of the wire. For this case we find that conduction by resonant tunneling through a chiral state bound at the middle of the wire is possible. The resonant level position can be tuned by imposing an Aharonov-Bohm flux through the nanowire cross section.
Many of the exotic properties proposed to occur in graphene rely on the possibility of increasing the spin orbit coupling (SOC). By combining analytical and numerical tight binding calculations, in this work we study the SOC induced by heavy adatoms
with active electrons living in $p$ orbitals. Depending on the position of the adatoms on graphene different kinds of SOC appear. Adatoms located in hollow position induce spin conserving intrinsic like SOC whereas a random distribution of adatoms induces a spin flipping Rashba like SOC. The induced SOC is linearly proportional to the adatoms concentration, indicating the inexistent interference effects between different adatoms. By computing the Hall conductivity we have proved the stability of the topological quantum Hall phases created by the adatoms against inhomogeneous spin orbit coupling . For the case of Pb adatoms, we find that a concentration of 0.1 adatom per carbon atom generates SOCs of the order of $sim$40$meV$.
Starting from a three dimensional Hamiltonian, we study the optical properties of ultra-thin topological insulator slabs for which the coupling between Dirac fermions on opposite surfaces results in two degenerated gapped hyperbolic bands. The gap is
a threshold for the optical absorption and translates in a peak in the imaginary part of the optical conductivity. An exchange field applied perpendicular to the slab splits the degenerated hyperbolic bands and a double step structure come out in the optical absorption, whereas a double peak structure appears in the imaginary part of the longitudinal optical conductivity. The exchange field breaks time-reversal symmetry and for exchange fields larger than the surfaces coupling gap, the zero frequency Hall conductivity is quantized to $e^2/h$. This result implies large values of the Kerr and Faraday rotation angles. In ultra-thin slabs, the absence of light multiple scattering and bulk conductivity, makes the Kerr and Faradays angles to remain rather large in a wide range of frequencies.
We address the tunneling current in a graphene-hBN-graphene heterostructure as function of the twisting between the crystals. The twisting induces a modulation of the hopping amplitude between the graphene layers, that provides the extra momentum nec
essary to satisfy momentum and energy conservation and to activate coherent tunneling between the graphene electrodes. Conservation rules limit the tunneling to states with wavevectors lying at the conic curves defined by the intersection of two Dirac cones shifted in momentum and energy. There is a critical voltage where the intersection is a straight line, and the joint density of states presents a maximum. This reflects in a peak in the tunneling current and in a negative differential conductivity.
