Electrons In Graphene Nanoribbons Research Articles

Lévy flight for electrons in graphene: Superdiffusive-to-diffusive transport transition

In this work we propose an electronic L\'evy flight device, analogous to a recent optical realization. To that end, we investigate the transmission of electrons in graphene nanoribbons in the presence of circular electrostatic clusters, whose diameter follow a power-law distribution. We analyze the effect of the electrostatic clusters on the electronic transport regime of the nanoribbons, in terms of its diffusion behavior. Our numerical calculations show that the presence of circular electrostatic clusters induces a transition from L\'evy (superdiffusive) to diffusive transport as the energy increases. Furthermore, we argue that in our electronic L\'evy flight device, superdiffusive transport is an exclusive feature of the low-energy quantum regime, while diffusive transport is a feature of the semiclassical regime. Therefore, we attribute the observed transition to the chiral symmetry breaking, once the energy moves away from the Dirac point of graphene.

Optical bistability and multistability via double dark resonance in graphene nanostructure

Electrons in graphene nanoribbons can lead to exceptionally strong optical responses in the infrared and terahertz regions owing to their unusual dispersion relation. Therefore, on the basis of quantum optics and solid-material scientific principles, we show that optical bistability and multistability can be generated in graphene nanostructure under strong magnetic field. We also show that by adjusting the intensity and detuning of infrared laser field, the threshold intensity and hysteresis loop can be manipulated efficiently. The effects of the electronic cooperation parameter which are directly proportional to the electronic number density and the length of the graphene sample are discussed. Our proposed model may be useful for the nextgeneration all-optical systems and information processing based on nano scale devices.

Thermal conductance attributed to phonon and electron in graphene nanoribbon

In this work, the energy transport of phonon and electron in graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are investigated by the nonequilibrium Green's function method without considering the interaction of phonon and electron. The heat current of phonon contribution comes from the gradient of temperature. While for the electron contribution, it stems from the gradient of both temperature and electrochemical potential. The corresponding intermediate functions satisfy the Onsager relationship. Thermal conductances are calculated in GNR and compared to those in square lattice ribbon model respectively. It is found that both the phonon and electron thermal conductances in square lattice ribbon are smaller than those in GNRs at low temperature and surpass those in armchair and zigzag GNRs respectively, as the temperature increases. Meanwhile, the heat transport is related to the edges of GNRs. These phenomena depend on their dispersion relations and energy band structures.

Interacting electrons in graphene nanoribbons in the lowest Landau level

We study the effect of electron-electron interaction and spin on electronic and transport properties of gated graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) in a perpendicular magnetic field in the regime of the lowest Landau level (LL). The electron-electron interaction is taken into account using the Hartree and Hubbard approximations, and the conductance of GNRs is calculated on the basis of the recursive Greens function technique within the Landauer formalism. We demonstrate that, in comparison to the one-electron picture, electron-electron interaction leads to the drastic changes in the dispersion relation and structure of propagating states in the regime of the lowest LL showing a formation of the compressible strip and opening of additional conductive channels in the middle of the ribbon. We show that the latter are very sensitive to disorder and get scattered even if the concentration of disorder is moderate. In contrast, the edge states transport is very robust and can not be suppressed even in the presence of a strong spin-flipping.

Generic suppression of conductance quantization of interacting electrons in graphene nanoribbons in a perpendicular magnetic field

The effects of electron interaction on the magnetoconductance of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) are studied within the Hartree approximation. We find that a perpendicular magnetic field leads to a suppression instead of an expected improvement of the quantization. This suppression is traced back to interaction-induced modifications of the band structure leading to the formation of compressible strips in the middle of GNRs. It is also shown that the hard wall confinement combined with electron interaction generates overlaps between forward and backward propagating states, which may significantly enhance backscattering in realistic GNRs. The relation to available experiments is discussed.

Electrostatic confinement of electrons in graphene nanoribbons

Coulomb blockade is observed in a graphene nanoribbon device with a top gate. When two pn junctions are formed via the back gate and the local top gate, electrons are confined between the pn junctions which act as the barriers. When no pn junctions are induced by the gate voltages, electrons are still confined, as a result of strong disorder, but in a larger area. Measurements on five other devices with different dimensions yield consistent results.

Quantum dynamics of electron in graphene nanoribbons with edge disorder

Considering both the finite size and the edge disorder, we explore the dynamic behavior of electrons in graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) with various geometries in terms of quantum diffusion theory. It is shown that in the regime of stronger disorder, the decay exponent δ and the diffusion exponent β increase with increasing edge disorder, while they decrease in the regime of weaker disorder. This indicates that there exists a localization–quasi-delocalization transition in GNRs upon varying the strength of edge disorder, similar to that in a shell-doped nanowire. In addition, the edge disorder has an influence of varying importance on the electronic transport in GNR, which depends on its width and edge geometry, showing up as a singular quantum size effect. The results can contribute towards understanding of the strange transport properties of graphene sheets and their potential applications.