arXiv subjects

Francisco Guinea

Publications and source records attributed to Francisco Guinea.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources

arXiv2017

Edge modes and non local conductance in graphene superlattices

We study the existence of edge modes in gapped Moiré superlattices in graphene monolayer ribbons. We find that the superlattice bands acquire finite Chern numbers, which lead to a Valley Hall Effect. The presence of dispersive edge modes is confirmed by calculations of the band structure of realistic nanoribbons using tight binding methods. These edge states are only weakly sensitive to disorder, as short-range scattering processes lead to mean free paths of the order of microns. The results explain the existence of edge currents when the chemical potential lies within the bulk superlattice gap, and offer an explanation for existing non-local resistivity measurements in graphene ribbons on boron nitride.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Theory of 2D crystals: graphene and beyond

This tutorial review presents an overview of the basic theoretical aspects of two-dimensional (2D) crystals. We revise essential aspects of graphene and the new families of semiconducting 2D materials, like transition metal dichalcogenides or black phosphorus. Minimal theoretical models for various materials are presented. Some of the exciting new possibilities offered by 2D crystals are discussed, such as manipulation and control of quantum degrees of freedom (spin and pseudospin), confinement of excitons, control of the electronic and optical properties with strain engineering, or unconventional superconducting phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Effective Interactions in a Graphene Layer Induced by the Proximity to a Ferromagnet

The proximity-induced couplings in graphene due to the vicinity of a ferromagnetic insulator are analyzed. We combine general symmetry principles and simple tight-binding descriptions to consider different orientations of the magnetization. We find that, in addition to a simple exchange field, a number of other terms arise. Some of these terms act as magnetic orbital couplings, and others are proximity-induced spin-orbit interactions. The couplings are of similar order of magnitude, and depend on the orientation of the magnetization. A variety of phases, and anomalous Hall effect regimes, are possible.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Polaritons in layered 2D materials

In recent years, enhanced light-matter interactions through a plethora of dipole-type polaritonic excitations have been observed in two-dimensional (2D) layered materials. In graphene, electrically tunable and highly confined plasmon-polaritons were predicted and observed, opening up opportunities for optoelectronics, bio-sensing and other mid-infrared applications. In hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), low-loss infrared-active phonon-polaritons exhibit hyperbolic behavior for some frequencies, allowing for ray-like propagation exhibiting high quality factors and hyperlensing effects. In transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), reduced screening in the 2D limit leads to optically prominent excitons with large binding energy, with these polaritonic modes having been recently observed with scanning near field optical microscopy (SNOM). Here, we review recent progress in state-of-the-art experiments, survey the vast library of polaritonic modes in 2D materials, their optical spectral properties, figures-of-merit and application space. Taken together, the emerging field of 2D material polaritonics and their hybrids provide enticing avenues for manipulating light-matter interactions across the visible, infrared to terahertz spectral ranges, with new optical control beyond what can be achieved using traditional bulk materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Majorana Zero-Modes in a Two-Dimensional $p$-Wave Superconductor

We analyze the formation of Majorana zero-modes at the edge of a two-dimensional topological superconductor. In particular, we study a time-reversal-invariant triplet phase that is likely to exist in doped Bi$_2$Se$_3$. Upon the introduction of an in-plane magnetic field to the superconductor, a gap is opened in the surface modes, which induces localized Majorana modes. The position of these modes can be simply manipulated by changing the orientation of the applied field, yielding novel methods for braiding these states with possible applications to topological quantum computation.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Time-reversal and rotation symmetry breaking superconductivity in Dirac materials

We consider mixed symmetry superconducting phases in Dirac materials in the odd parity channel, where pseudoscalar and vector order parameters can coexist due to their similar critical temperatures when attractive interactions are of finite range. We show that the coupling of these order parameters to unordered magnetic dopants favors the condensation of novel time-reversal symmetry breaking (TRSB) phases, characterized by a condensate magnetization, rotation symmetry breaking, and simultaneous ordering of the dopant moments. We find a rich phase diagram of mixed TRSB phases characterized by peculiar bulk quasiparticles, with Weyl nodes and nodal lines, and distinctive surface states. These findings are consistent with recent experiments on Nb$_x$Bi$_2$Se$_3$ that report evidence of point nodes, nematicity, and TRSB superconductivity induced by Nb magnetic moments.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2017

Electrically controllable magnetism in twisted bilayer graphene

Twisted graphene bilayers develop highly localised states around AA-stacked regions for small twist angles. We show that interaction effects may induce either an antiferromagnetic (AF) and a ferromagnetic (F) polarization of said regions, depending on the electrical bias between layers. Remarkably, F-polarised AA regions under bias develop spiral magnetic ordering, with a relative $120^\circ$ misalignment between neighbouring regions due to a frustrated antiferromagnetic exchange. This remarkable spiral magnetism emerges naturally without the need of spin-orbit coupling, and competes with the more conventional lattice-antiferromagnetic instability, which interestingly develops at smaller bias under weaker interactions than in monolayer graphene, due to Fermi velocity suppression. This rich and electrically controllable magnetism could turn twisted bilayer graphene into an ideal system to study frustrated magnetism in two dimensions, with interesting potential also for a range of applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Edge modes in zigzag and armchair ribbons of monolayer MoS$_2$

We explore the electronic structure, orbital character and topological aspect of a monolayer MoS$_2$ nanoribbon using tight-binding (TB) and low-energy (${\bm k}\cdot{\bm p} $) models. We obtain a mid-gap edge mode in the zigzag ribbon of monolayer MoS$_2$, which can be traced back to the topological properties of the bulk band structure. Monolayer MoS$_2$ can be considered as a valley Hall insulator. The boundary conditions at armchair edges mix the valleys on the edges, and a gap is induced in the edge modes. The spin-orbit coupling in the valence band reduces the hybridization of the bulk states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Inverse Funnel Effect of Excitons in Strained Black Phosphorus

We study the effects of strain on the properties and dynamics of Wannier excitons in monolayer (phosphorene) and few-layer black phosphorus (BP), a promising two-dimensional material for optoelectronic applications due to its high mobility, mechanical strength and strain-tuneable direct band gap. We compare the results to the case of molybdenum disulphide (MoS$_2$) monolayers. We find that the so-called funnel effect, i.e. the possibility of controlling exciton motion by means of inhomogeneous strains, is much stronger in few-layer BP than in MoS$_2$ monolayers and, crucially, is of opposite sign. Instead of excitons accumulating isotropically around regions of high tensile strain like in MoS$_2$, excitons in BP are pushed away from said regions. This \emph{inverse} funnel effect is moreover highly anisotropic, with much larger funnel distances along the armchair crystallographic direction, leading to a directional focusing of exciton flow. A strong inverse funnel effect could enable simpler designs of funnel solar cells, and offer new possibilities for the manipulation and harvesting of light.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Electron-phonon vertex and its influence on the superconductivity of two-dimensional metals on a piezoelectric substrate

We investigate the interaction between the electrons of a two-dimensional metal and the acoustic phonons of an underlying piezoelectric substrate. Fundamental inequalities can be obtained from general energy arguments. As a result, phonon mediated attraction can be proven to never overcome electron Coulomb repulsion, at least for long phonon wavelengths. We study the influence of these phonons on the possible pairing instabilities of a two-dimensional electron gas such as graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Mapping the effect of defect-induced strain disorder on the Dirac states of topological insulators

We provide a detailed microscopic characterization of the influence of defects-induced disorder onto the Dirac spectrum of three dimensional topological insulators. By spatially resolved Landau-levels spectroscopy measurements, we reveal the existence of nanoscale fluctuations of both the Dirac point energy as well as of the Dirac-fermions velocity which is found to spatially change in opposite direction for electrons and holes, respectively. These results evidence a scenario which goes beyond the existing picture based on chemical potential fluctuations. The findings are consistently explained by considering the microscopic effects of local stain introduced by defects, which our model calculations show to effectively couple to topological states, reshaping their Dirac-like dispersion over a large energy range. In particular, our results indicate that the presence of microscopic spatially varying stain, inevitably present in crystals because of the random distribution of defects, effectively couple to topological states and should be carefully considered for correctly describing the effects of disorder.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Faraday effect in rippled graphene: Magneto-optics and random gauge fields

A beam of linearly polarized light transmitted through magnetically biased graphene can have its axis of polarization rotated by several degrees after passing the graphene sheet. This large Faraday effect is due to the action of the magnetic field on graphene's charge carriers. As deformations of the graphene membrane result in pseudomagnetic fields acting on the charge carriers, the effect of random mesoscopic corrugations (ripples) can be described as the exposure of graphene to a random pseudomagnetic field. We aim to clarify the interplay of these typically sample inherent fields with the external magnetic bias field and the resulting effect on the Faraday rotation. In principle, random gauge disorder can be identified from a combination of Faraday angle and optical spectroscopy measurements.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Interaction between point charges, dipoles and graphene layers

We analyse the interaction between charges and graphene layers. The electric polarisability of graphene induces a force, that can be described by an image charge. The analysis shows that graphene can be described as an imperfect conductor with a finite dielectric constant, $ε_r$, for weak coupling, and it behaves as a metal for strong fields. As a consequence, the interaction between polar molecules and graphene layer(s) tends to align the molecular dipole along the direction normal to the graphene, and quantitative estimates of the energy gain are given The strength of this interaction can be sufficient to overcome thermal effects when the molecule is close to the layer, even at room temperature. Hence, boundary effects play a significant role in determining the structure of systems such as water confined in atomically narrow van der Waals heterostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Strong modulation of optical properties in black phosphorus through strain-engineered rippling

Controlling the bandgap through local-strain engineering is an exciting avenue for tailoring optoelectronic materials. Two-dimensional crystals are particularly suited for this purpose because they can withstand unprecedented non-homogeneous deformations before rupture: one can literally bend them and fold them up almost like a piece of paper. Here, we study multi-layer black phosphorus sheets subjected to periodic stress to modulate their optoelectronic properties. We find a remarkable shift of the optical absorption band-edge of up to ~0.7 eV between the regions under tensile and compressive stress, greatly exceeding the strain tunability reported for transition metal dichalcogenides. This observation is supported by theoretical models which also predict that this periodic stress modulation can yield to quantum confinement of carriers at low temperatures. The possibility of generating large strain-induced variations in the local density of charge carriers opens the door for a variety of applications including photovoltaics, quantum optics and two-dimensional optoelectronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Enhanced superconductivity in atomically thin TaS2

The ability to exfoliate layered materials down to the single layer limit has opened the opportunity to understand how a gradual reduction in dimensionality affects the properties of bulk materials. Here we use this top-down approach to address the problem of superconductivity in the two-dimensional limit. The transport properties of electronic devices based on 2H tantalum disulfide flakes of different thicknesses are presented. We observe that superconductivity persists down to the thinnest layer investigated (3.5 nm), and interestingly, we find a pronounced enhancement in the critical temperature from 0.5 K to 2.2 K as the layers are thinned down. In addition, we propose a tight-binding model, which allows us to attribute this phenomenon to an enhancement of the effective electron-phonon coupling constant. This work provides evidence that reducing dimensionality can strengthen superconductivity as opposed to the weakening effect that has been reported in other 2D materials so far.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2015

Orbital magnetic susceptibility of graphene and MoS2

We calculate the orbital magnetic susceptibility $χ_{\mathrm{orb}}$ for an 8-band tight-binding model of gapless and gapped graphene using Green's functions. Analogously, we study $χ_{\mathrm{orb}}$ for a $\mathrm{MoS_2}$ 12-band model. For both materials, we unravel the character of the processes involved in the magnetic response by looking at the contribution at each point of the Brillouin zone. By this, a clear distinction between intra- and interband excitations is generally possible and we are able to predict qualitative features of $χ_{\mathrm{orb}}$ only through the knowledge of the band structure. The study is complemented by comparing the magnetic response with that of 2-band lattice Hamiltonians which reduce to the Dirac and Bernevig-Hughes-Zhang (BHZ) models in the continuum limit.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Theory of strain in single-layer transition metal dichalcogenides

Strain engineering has emerged as a powerful tool to modify the optical and electronic properties of two-dimensional crystals. Here we perform a systematic study of strained semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. The effect of strain is considered within a full Slater-Koster tight-binding model, which provides us with the band structure in the whole Brillouin zone. From this, we derive an effective low-energy model valid around the K point of the BZ, which includes terms up to second order in momentum and strain. For a generic profile of strain, we show that the solutions for this model can be expressed in terms of the harmonic oscillator and double quantum well models, for the valence and conduction bands respectively. We further study the shift of the position of the electron and hole band edges due to uniform strain. Finally, we discuss the importance of spin-strain coupling in these 2D semiconducting materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Topological currents in black phosphorus with broken inversion symmetry

We examine the nature of topological currents in black phosphorus when its inversion symmetry is deliberately broken. Here, the conduction and valence band edges are located at the $Γ$ point of the rectangular Brillouin zone, and they exhibit strong anisotropy along its two crystal axes. We will show below that these salient features lead to a linear transverse neutral topological currents, accompanied also by a non-linear transverse charge current at the Fermi surface. These topological currents are maximal when the in-plane electric field is applied along the zigzag crystal axes, but zero along the armchair direction.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗