Christian Schüller — Page 3

arXiv2013

Weak localization and Raman study of anisotropically etched graphene antidots

We study a crystallographic etching process of graphene nanostructures where zigzag edges can be prepared selectively. The process involves heating exfoliated single-layer graphene samples with a predefined pattern of antidot arrays in an argon atmosphere at 820 C, which selectively removes carbon atoms located on armchair sites. Atomic force microscopy and scanning electron microscopy cannot resolve the structure on the atomic scale. However, weak localization and Raman measurements - which both probe intervalley scattering at armchair edges - indicate that zigzag regions are enhanced compared to samples prepared with oxygen based reactive ion etching only.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Spin dynamics in high-mobility two-dimensional electron systems

Understanding the spin dynamics in semiconductor heterostructures is highly important for future semiconductor spintronic devices. In high-mobility two-dimensional electron systems (2DES), the spin lifetime strongly depends on the initial degree of spin polarization due to the electron-electron interaction. The Hartree-Fock (HF) term of the Coulomb interaction acts like an effective out-of-plane magnetic field and thus reduces the spin-flip rate. By time-resolved Faraday rotation (TRFR) techniques, we demonstrate that the spin lifetime is increased by an order of magnitude as the initial spin polarization degree is raised from the low-polarization limit to several percent. We perform control experiments to decouple the excitation density in the sample from the spin polarization degree and investigate the interplay of the internal HF field and an external perpendicular magnetic field. The lifetime of spins oriented in the plane of a [001]-grown 2DES is strongly anisotropic if the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit fields are of the same order of magnitude. This anisotropy, which stems from the interference of the Rashba and the Dresselhaus spin-orbit fields, is highly density-dependent: as the electron density is increased, the kubic Dresselhaus term becomes dominant and reduces the anisotropy.

cond-mat.other↗