arXiv subjects

Andrii Iurov

Publications and source records attributed to Andrii Iurov.

53 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Plasmon dissipation in gapped-graphene open systems at finite temperature

Numerical and closed-form analytic expressions for plasmon dispersion relations and rates of dissipation are first obtained at finite-temperatures for free-standing gapped graphene. These closed-system results are generalized to an open system with Coulomb coupling of graphene electrons to an external electron reservoir. New plasmon modes, as well as new plasmon dissipation channels, are found in this open system, including significant modifications arising from the combined effect of thermal excitation of electrons and an energy bandgap in gapped graphene. Moreover, the characteristics of the new plasmon mode and the additional plasmon dissipation may be fully controlled by adjusting the separation between the graphene layer from the surface of a thick conductor. Numerical results for the thermal shift of plasmon frequency in a doped gapped graphene layer, along with its sensitivity to the local environment, are demonstrated and analyzed. Such phenomenon associated with the frequency shift of plasmons may be applied to direct optical measurement of local electron temperature in transistors and nanoplasmonic structures.

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arXiv2015

Environmental Effects on the Terahertz Surface Plasmons in Epitaxial Graphene

In this paper, we predict the existence of low-frequency nonlocal plasmon excitations at the vacuum-surface interface of a superlattice of $N$ graphene layers interacting with a thick conducting substrate. This is different from graphite which allows inter-layer hopping. A dispersion function is derived which incorporates the polarization function of the graphene monolayers (MLGs) and the dispersion function of a semi-infinite electron liquid at whose surface the electrons scatter specularly. We find that this surface plasmon-polariton is not damped by the particle-hole excitations (PHE's) or the bulk modes and separates below the continuum mini-band of bulk plasmon modes. For a conducting substrate with surface plasmon frequency $ω_s=ω_p/\sqrt{2}$, the surface plasmon frequency of the hybrid structure always lies below $ω_s$. The intensity of this mode depends on the distance of the graphene layers from the surface of the conductor, the energy band gap between the valence and conduction bands of MLG and, most importantly, on the number of two-dimensional (2D) layers. Furthermore, the hybrid structure has no surface plasmon for a sufficiently large number ($N\stackrel{>}{\sim} 7$) of layers. The existence of two plasmons with different dispersion relations indicates that quasiparticles with different group velocity may coexist for various ranges of wavelength which is determined by the number of layers in the superlattice.

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arXiv2015

Temperature-dependent Plasmons and Their Damping Rates for Graphene with a Finite Energy Bandgap

We obtained numerical and closed-form analytic expressions for finite-temperature plasmon dispersion relations for intrinsic graphene in the presence of a finite energy gap in the energy spectrum. The calculations were carried out using the random-phase approximation. The analytic results have been derived in the high temperature regime and long-wavelength limit. We have found that the plasmon damping rate decreases in the presence of a band gap. Our method of calculation could also be applied to silicene and other buckled honeycomb lattice structures. The finite-temperature plasmon dispersion relations are presented when a single graphene layer is Coulomb coupled to a semi infinite conductor. Both cases of gapless and gapped monolayer graphene have been investigated when a thick substrate is in their proximity. Both the plasmon excitation frequency and damping rate are linear functions of the in-plane wave vector in the long wavelength limit when a monolayer interacts with a conducting substrate which is not the case for free-standing pristine or gapped graphene.

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arXiv2015

Coulomb Excitations for a Short Linear Chain of Metallic Shells

A self-consistent-field theory is given for the electronic collective modes of a chain containing a finite number, $N$, of Coulomb-coupled spherical two-dimensional electron gases (S2DE's) arranged with their centers along a straight line, simulating a narrow micro-ribbon of metallic shells. The separation between nearest-neighbor shells is arbitrary and because of the quantization of the electron energy levels due to their confinement to the spherical surface, all angular momenta $L$ of the Coulomb excitations and their projections $M$ on the quantization axis are coupled. However, for incoming light with a specific polarization, only one angular momentum quantum number is chosen. We show that when $N=3$ the next-nearest-neighbor Coulomb coupling is larger than its value if they are located at opposite ends of a right-angle triangle forming the triad. Additionally, the frequencies of the plasma excitations depend on the orientation of the line joining them with respect to the axis of quantization since the magnetic field generated from the induced oscillating electric dipole moment on one sphere can couple to the induced magnetic dipole moment on another.

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arXiv2014

Non-local Plasma Spectrum of Graphene Interacting with a Thick Conductor

Self-consistent field theory is used to obtain the non-local plasmon dispersion relation of monolayer graphene which is Coulomb-coupled to a thick conductor. We calculate numerically the undamped plasmon excitation spectrum for arbitrary wave number. For gapped graphene, both the low-frequency (acoustic) and high frequency (surface) plasmons may lie within an undamped opening in the particle-hole region. Furthermore, we obtain plasmon excitations in a region of frequency-wave vector space which do not exist for free-standing gapped graphene.

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arXiv2014

Surface Plasmon Instability Leading to Emission of Radiation

We propose a new energy conversion approach from a dc electric field to a terahertz wave based on hybrid semiconductors by combining two-dimensional (2D) crystalline layers and a thick conducting material with possible applications as a source of coherent radiation. The hybrid nano-structure may consist of a single or pair of sheets of graphene, silicene or a 2D electron gas as would occur at a semiconductor hetero-interface. When an electric current is passed through a layer, we discover that the low-frequency plasmons may become unstable beyond a critical wave vector $q_c$. However, there is no instability for a single driven layer far from the conductor and the instability of an isolated pair of 2D layers occurs only at ultra long wavelengths. To bring in frequency agility for this spontaneous radiation, we manipulate the surface-plasmon induced instability, which leads to the emission of radiation (spiler), to occur at shorter wavelengths by choosing the conductor electron density, layer separation, distances of layers from the conductor surface and the driving-current strength. Applications of terahertz radiation from spiler for chemical analysis, security scanning, medical imaging and telecommunications are expected.

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arXiv2014

Engineering semiconductor hybrids for sensing

The effect of screening of the coulomb interaction between two layers of two-dimensional electrons, such as in graphene, by a highly doped semiconducting substrate is investigated. We employ the random-phase approximation to calculate the dispersion equation of this hybrid structure in order to determine the plasmon excitation spectrum. When an electric current is passed through a layer, the low-frequency plasmons in the layer may bifurcate into separate streams due to the current-driving effect. At a critical wave vector, determined by the separation between layers and their distance from the surface, their phase velocities may be in opposite directions and a surface plasmon instability leads to the emission of radiation. Applications to detectors and other electromagnetic devices exploiting nano-plasmonics are discussed.

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arXiv2014

Role Played by Surface Plasmons on Plasma Instability in Composite Layered Structures

We demonstrate the engineering of a source of radiation from growing surface plasmons (charge density oscillations) in a composite nano-system. The considered hybrid nano-structure consists of a thick layer of a conducting substrate on whose surface a plasmon mode is activated conjoining a single or pair of thin sheets of either monolayer graphene, silicene or a two-dimensional electron gas as would occur at a hetero-interface. When an electric current is passed through either a layer or within the substrate, the low-frequency plasmons in the layer may bifurcate into separate streams due to the driving current. At a critical wave vector, determined by the separation between layers (if there are two) and their distance from the surface, their phase velocities may be in opposite directions and a surface plasmon instability leads to the emission of radiation (spiler). Spiler takes advantage of the flexibility of choosing its constituents to produce sources of radiation. The role of the substrate is to screen the Coulomb interaction between two layers or between a layer and the surface. The range of wave vectors where the instability is achieved may be adjusted by varying layer separation and type of material. Applications to detectors and other electromagnetic devices exploiting nano-plasmonics are discussed.

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arXiv2014

Novel properties of graphene in the presence of energy gap: optics, transport and mobility studies

We review the transmission of Dirac electrons through a potential barrier in the presence of circularly polarized light. A different type of transmission is demonstrated and explained. Perfect transmission for nearly head-on collision in inffnite graphene is suppressed in gapped dressed states of electrons. We also present our results on enhanced mobility of hot Dirac electrons in nanoribbons and magnetoplasmons in graphene in the presence of the energy gap. The calculated carrier mobility for a graphene nanoribbon as a function of the bias field possesses a high threshold for entering the nonlinear transport regime. This threshold is a function of both extrinsic and intrinsic properties, such as lattice temperature, linear density, impurity scattering strength, ribbon width, and correlation length for the line-edge roughness. Analysis of non-equilibrium carrier distribution function confirms that the difference between linear and nonlinear transport is due to sweeping electrons from the right to left Fermi one through elastic scattering as well as moving electrons from low to high-energy ones through field-induced heating. The plasmons, as well as the electron-hole continuum are determined by both energy gap and the magnetic field, showing very specific features, which have been studied and discussed in details.

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arXiv2014

Revealing Hofstadter Spectrum for Graphene in a Periodic Potential

We calculate the energy bands for graphene monolayers when electrons move through a periodic electrostatic potential in the presence of a uniform perpendicular magnetic field. We clearly demonstrate the quantum fractal nature of the energy bands at reasonably low magnetic fields. We present results for the energy bands as functions of both wave number and magnetic flux through the unit cells of the resulting moire superlattice. The effects due to pseudo-spin coupling and Landau orbit mixing by a strong scattering potential have been exhibited. At low magnetic fields when the Landau orbits are much larger than the period of the modulation, the Landau levels are only slightly broadened. This feature is also observed at extremely high magnetic fields. The density of states has been calculated and shows a remarkable self-similarity like the energy bands. We estimate that for modulation period of 10nm the region where the Hofstadter butterfly is revealed at B < 2 T.

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arXiv2014

Modeling Anisotropic Plasmon Excitations in Self-Assembled Fullerenes

The plasmon excitations in Coulomb-coupled spherical two-dimensional electron gases (S2DEGs) reveal an interesting dependence on the displacement vector between the centers of the spheres with respect to the axis of quantization for the angular momentum quantum number L. Specifically, plasmon modes for a bundle of three S2DEGs have been obtained within the random-phase approximation (RPA). The inter-sphere Coulomb interaction matrix elements and their symmetry properties were also investigated in detail. The case of a bundle gives an adequate picture of the way in which the Coulomb interaction depends on the orbital angular momentum quantum number L and its projection M. We concluded that the interaction between the S2DEGs aligned at an angle of 45o with the axis of quantization is negligible compared to the interaction along and perpendicular to the quantization axis, which are themselves unequal to each other. Consequently, the plasmon excitation frequencies reveal an interesting orientational anisotropic coupling to an external electromagnetic field probing the charge density oscillations. Our result on the spatial correlation may be experimentally observable. In this connection, there have already been some experimental reports pointing to a similar effect in nanoparticles

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arXiv2014

Anisotropic plasmon-coupling dimerization of a pair of spherical electron gases

We have discovered a novel feature in the plasmon excitations for a pair of Coulomb-coupled non- concentric spherical two-dimensional electron gases (S2DEGs). Our results show that the plasmon excitations for such pairs depend on the orientation with respect to the external electromagnetic probe field. The origin of this anisotropy of the inter-sphere Coulomb interaction is due to the directional asymmetry of the electrostatic coupling of electrons in excited states which depend on both the angular momentum quantum number L and its projection M on the axis of quantization taken as the probe E-field direction. We demonstrate the anisotropic inter-sphere Coulomb coupling in space and present semi-analytic results in the random-phase approximation both perpendicular and parallel to the axis of quantization. For the incidence of light with a finite orbital or spin angular momentum, the magnetic field generated from an induced oscillating electric dipole on one sphere can couple to an induced magnetic dipole on another sphere in a way depending on the direction parallel or perpendicular to the probe E field. Such an effect from the plasmon spatial correlation is expected to be experimentally observable by employing circularly-polarized light or a helical light beam for incidence. The S2DEG serves as a simple model for fullerenes as well as metallic dimers, when the energy bands are far apart.

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arXiv2013

Effects of periodic scattering potential on Landau quantization and ballistic transport of electrons in graphene

A two-dimensional periodic array of scatterers has been introduced to a single layer of graphene in the presence of an external magnetic field perpendicular to the graphene layer. The eigenvalue equation for such a system has been solved numerically to display the structure of split Landau subbands as functions of both wave number and magnetic flux. The effects of pseudo-spin coupling and Landau subbands mixing by a strong scattering potential have been demonstrated. Additionally, we investigated the square barrier tunneling problem when magnetic field is present, as well as demonstrate the crucial difference in the modulated band structure between graphene and the twodimensional electron gas. The low-magnetic field regime is particularly interesting for Dirac fermions and has been discussed. Tunneling of Dirac electrons through a magnetic potential barrier has been investigated to complement the reported results on electrostatic potential scattering in the presence of an ambient magnetic field.

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arXiv2013

Theory for entanglement of electrons dressed with circularly polarized light in Graphene and three-dimensional topological insulators

We have formulated a theory for investigating the conditions which are required to achieve entangled states of electrons on graphene and three-dimensional (3D) topological insulators (TIs). We consider the quantum entanglement of spins by calculating the exchange energy. A gap is opened up at the Fermi level between the valence and conduction bands in the absence of doping when graphene as well as 3D TIs are irradiated with circularly-polarized light. This energy band gap is dependent on the intensity and frequency of the applied electromagnetic field. The electron-photon coupling also gives rise to a unique energy dispersion of the dressed states which is different from either graphene or the conventional two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). In our calculations, we obtained the dynamical polarization function for imaginary frequencies which is then employed to determine the exchange energy. The polarization function is obtained with the use of both the energy eigenstates and the overlap of pseudo-spin wave functions. We have concluded that while doping has a significant influence on the exchange energy and consequently on the entanglement, the gap of the energy dispersions affects the exchange slightly, which could be used as a good technique to tune and control entanglement for quantum information purposes.

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arXiv2013

Electronic properties of closed cage nanometer-size spherical graphitic particles

We investigate the localization of charged particles by the image potential of spherical shells, such as fullerene buckyballs. These "spherical image states" exist within surface potentials formed by the competition between the attractive image potential and the repulsive centripetal force arising from the angular motion. The image potential has a power law rather than a logarithmic behavior for a nanotube, leading to fundamental differences in the forms for the effective potential for the two geometries. The sphere has localized stable states close to its surface. At low temperatures, this results in long lifetimes for the image states. We predict the possibility of creating image states with binding energies of a few meV around metallic/non-metallic spherical shells by photoionization. Applications and related phenomena are discussed.

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arXiv2012

Photon dressed electronic states in topological insulators: Tunneling and conductance

The surface bound electronic states of three-dimensional topological insulators, as well as the edge states in two-dimensional topological insulators, are investigated in the presence of a circularly polarized light. The strong coupling between electrons and photons is found t o give rise to an energy gap as well as a unique energy dispersion of the dressed states, different from both graphene and conventional two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG). The effects of electron-photon interaction, barrier height and width on the electron tunneling through a p-n junction and on the ballistic conductance in topological insulators are demonstrated by numerical calculations. A critical energy for an incident electron to tunnel perfectly through a barrier is predicted, where electrons behave as either massless Dirac-like or massive Schrodinger-like particles above or below this threshold value. Additionally, these effects are compared with those in zigzag graphene nanoribbons and a 2DEG. Both the similarities and the differences are demonstrated and explained.

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arXiv2011

Anomalous Photon-Assisted Tunneling in Graphene

We investigated the Dirac electrons transmission through a potential barrier in the presence of circularly polarized light. An anomalous photon-assisted enhanced transmission is predicted and explained in a comparison with the well-known Klein paradox. It is demonstrated that the perfect transmission for nearly-head-on collision in an infinite graphene is suppressed in gapped dressed states of electrons, which is further accompanied by shift of peaks as a function of the incident angle away from the head-on collision. In addition, the perfect transmission in the absence of potential barrier is partially suppressed by a photon-induced gap in illuminated graphene. After the effect of rough edges of the potential barrier or impurity scattering is included, the perfect transmission with no potential barrier becomes completely suppressed and the energy range for the photon-assisted perfect transmission is reduced at the same time.

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