arXiv subjects

Jurgen H. Smet

Publications and source records attributed to Jurgen H. Smet.

31 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2015

Disorder Enhanced Nuclear Spin Relaxation at Landau Level Filling Factor One

The nuclear spin relaxation rate (1/$T_1$) is measured for GaAs two-dimensional electron systems in the quantum Hall regime with an all-electrical technique for agitating and probing the nuclear spins. A "tilted plateau" feature is observed near the Landau level filling factor $ν=1$ in 1/$T_1$ versus $ν$. Both width and magnitude of the plateau increase with decreasing electron density. At low temperatures, 1/$T_1$ exhibits an Arrhenius temperature dependence within the tilted plateau regime. The extracted energy gaps are up to two orders of magnitude smaller than the corresponding charge transport gaps. These results point to a nontrivial mechanism for the disorder enhanced nuclear spin relaxation, in which microscopic inhomogeneities play a key role for the low energy spin excitations related to skyrmions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Fractional Quantum Hall Phase Transitions and Four-flux Composite Fermions in Graphene

Graphene and its multilayers have attracted considerable interest owing to the fourfold spin and valley degeneracy of their charge carriers, which enables the formation of a rich variety of broken-symmetry states and raises the prospect of controlled phase transitions among them. In especially clean samples, electron-electron interactions were recently shown to produce surprising patterns of symmetry breaking and phase transitions in the integer quantum Hall regime. Although a series of robust fractional quantum Hall states was also recently observed in graphene, their rich phase diagram and tunability have yet to be fully explored. Here we report local electronic compressibility measurements of ultraclean suspended graphene that reveal a multitude of fractional quantum Hall states surrounding filling factors v = -1/2 and -1/4. In several of these states, we observe phase transitions that indicate abrupt changes in the underlying order and are marked by a narrow region of negative compressibility that cuts across the incompressible peak. Remarkably, as filling factor approaches v = -1/2, we observe additional oscillations in compressibility that appear to be related to the phase transitions and persist to within 2.5% of v = -1/2. We use a simple model based on crossing Landau levels of composite particles with different internal degrees of freedom to explain many qualitative features of the experimental data. Our results add to the diverse array of correlated states observed in graphene and demonstrate substantial control over their order parameters, showing that graphene serves as an excellent platform to study correlated electron phases of matter.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Transconductance fluctuations as a probe for interaction induced quantum Hall states in graphene

Transport measurements normally provide a macroscopic, averaged view of the sample, so that disorder prevents the observation of fragile interaction induced states. Here, we demonstrate that transconductance fluctuations in a graphene field effect transistor reflect charge localization phenomena on the nanometer scale due to the formation of a dot network which forms near incompressible quantum states. These fluctuations give access to fragile broken-symmetry and fractional quantum Hall states even though these states remain hidden in conventional magnetotransport quantities.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Unconventional Sequence of Fractional Quantum Hall States in Suspended Graphene

Interactions among electrons can give rise to striking collective phenomena when the kinetic energy of charge carriers is suppressed. One example is the fractional quantum Hall effect, in which correlations between electrons moving in two dimensions under the influence of a strong magnetic field generate excitations with fractional charge. Graphene provides a platform to study unique many-body effects due to its massless chiral charge carriers and the fourfold degeneracy that arises from their spin and valley degrees of freedom. Here we report local electronic compressibility measurements of a suspended graphene flake performed using a scanning single-electron transistor. Between Landau level filling v = 0 and 1, we observe incompressible fractional quantum Hall states that follow the standard composite fermion sequence v = p/(2p \pm 1) for all integer p \leq 4. In contrast, incompressible behavior occurs only at v = 4/3, 8/5, 10/7 and 14/9 between v = 1 and 2. These fractions correspond to a subset of the standard composite fermion sequence involving only even numerators, suggesting a robust underlying symmetry. We extract the energy gaps associated with each fractional quantum Hall state as a function of magnetic field. The states at v = 1/3, 2/3, 4/3 and 8/5 are the strongest at low field, and persist below 1.5 T. The unusual sequence of incompressible states provides insight into the interplay between electronic correlations and SU(4) symmetry in graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Excitonic Fano Resonance in Freestanding Graphene

We investigate the role of electron-hole correlations in the absorption of freestanding monolayer and bilayer graphene using optical transmission spectroscopy from 1.5 to 5.5 eV. Line shape analysis demonstrates that the ultraviolet region is dominated by an asymmetric Fano resonance. We attribute this to an excitonic resonance that forms near the van-Hove singularity at the saddle point of the band structure and couples to the Dirac continuum. The Fano model quantitatively describes the experimental data all the way down to the infrared. In contrast, the common non-interacting particle picture cannot describe our data. These results suggest a profound connection between the absorption properties and the topology of the graphene band structure.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Raman Scattering at Pure Graphene Zigzag Edges

Theory has predicted rich and very distinct physics for graphene devices with boundaries that follow either the armchair or zigzag crystallographic directions. A prerequisite to disclose this physics in experiment is to be able to produce devices with boundaries of pure chirality. Exfoliated flakes frequently exhibit corners with an odd multiple of 30°, which raised expectations that their boundaries follow pure zigzag and armchair directions. The predicted Raman behavior at such crystallographic edges however failed to confirm pure edge chirality. Here, we perform confocal Raman spectroscopy on hexagonal holes obtained after the anisotropic etching of prepatterned pits using carbothermal decomposition of SiO2. The boundaries of the hexagonal holes are aligned along the zigzag crystallographic direction and leave hardly any signature in the Raman map indicating unprecedented purity of the edge chirality. This work offers the first opportunity to experimentally confirm the validity of the Raman theory for graphene edges.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Band structure engineering of epitaxial graphene on SiC by molecular doping

Epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) suffers from strong intrinsic n-type doping. We demonstrate that the excess negative charge can be fully compensated by non-covalently functionalizing graphene with the strong electron acceptor tetrafluorotetracyanoquinodimethane (F4-TCNQ). Charge neutrality can be reached in monolayer graphene as shown in electron dispersion spectra from angular resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). In bilayer graphene the band gap that originates from the SiC/graphene interface dipole increases with increasing F4-TCNQ deposition and, as a consequence of the molecular doping, the Fermi level is shifted into the band gap. The reduction of the charge carrier density upon molecular deposition is quantified using electronic Fermi surfaces and Raman spectroscopy. The structural and electronic characteristics of the graphene/F4-TCNQ charge transfer complex are investigated by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and ultraviolet photoelectron spectroscopy (UPS). The doping effect on graphene is preserved in air and is temperature resistant up to 200\degree C. Furthermore, graphene non-covalent functionalization with F4-TCNQ can be implemented not only via evaporation in ultra-high vacuum but also by wet chemistry.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Electronic decoupling of an epitaxial graphene monolayer by gold intercalation

The application of graphene in electronic devices requires large scale epitaxial growth. The presence of the substrate, however, usually reduces the charge carrier mobility considerably. We show that it is possible to decouple the partially sp3-hybridized first graphitic layer formed on the Si-terminated face of silicon carbide from the substrate by gold intercalation, leading to a completely sp2-hybridized graphene layer with improved electronic properties.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2010

Hot Phonons in an Electrically Biased Graphene Constriction

Phonon carrier interactions can have significant impact on device performance. They can be probed by measuring the phonon lifetime, which reflects the interaction strength of a phonon with other quasi-particles in particular charge carriers as well as its companion phonons. The carrier phonon and phonon-phonon contributions to the phonon lifetime can be disentangled from temperature dependent studies. Here, we address the importance of phonon carrier interactions in Joule-heated graphene constrictions in order to contribute to the understanding of energy dissipation in graphene based electronic devices. We demonstrate that gapless graphene grants electron phonon interactions uncommon significance in particular at low carrier density. In conventional semiconductors, the bandgap usually prevents the decay of phonons through electron-hole generation and also in metals or other semimetals the Fermi temperature is excessively large to enter the regime where electron phonon coupling plays such a dominant role as in graphene in the investigated phonon temperature regime from 300 to 1600 K.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Graphene on a hydrophobic substrate: Doping reduction and hysteresis suppression under ambient conditions

The intrinsic doping level of graphene prepared by mechanical exfoliation and standard lithography procedures on thermally oxidized silicon varies significantly and seems to depend strongly on processing details and the substrate morphology. Moreover, transport properties of such graphene devices suffer from hysteretic behavior under ambient conditions. The hysteresis presumably originates from dipolar adsorbates on the substrate or graphene surface. Here, we demonstrate that it is possible to reliably obtain low intrinsic doping levels and to strongly suppress hysteretic behavior even in ambient air by depositing graphene on top of a thin, hydrophobic self assembled layer of hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS). The HMDS serves as a reproducible template that prevents the adsorption of dipolar substances. It may also screen the influence of substrate deficiencies.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Four-terminal magneto-transport in graphene p-n junctions created by spatially selective doping

In this paper we describe a graphene p-n junction created by chemical doping. We find that chemical doping does not reduce mobility in contrast to top-gating. The preparation technique has been developed from systematic studies about influences on the initial doping of freshly prepared graphene. We investigated the removal of adsorbates by vacuum treatment, annealing and compensation doping using NH3. Hysteretic behavior is observed in the electric field effect due to dipolar adsorbates like water and NH3. Finally we demonstrate spatially selective doping of graphene using patterned PMMA. 4-terminal transport measurements of the p-n devices reveal edge channel mixing in the quantum hall regime. Quantized resistances of h/e^2, h/3e^2 and h/15e^2 can be observed as expected from theory.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Laser-induced disassembly of a graphene single crystal into a nano-crystalline network

We report about investigations of time-dependent structural modifications in single crystal graphene due to laser irradiation even at moderate power levels of 1mW in a diffraction limited spot. The structural modifications have been characterized by in situ scanning confocal Raman spectroscopy, atomic force height microscopy and transport studies. The time evolution of the Raman spectrum reveals two different effects: on a short time scale, dopants, initially present on the flake, are removed. The longer time scale behavior points to a laser induced gradual local decomposition of single crystal graphene into a network of interconnected nano-crystallites with a characteristic length scale of approximately 10 nm due to bond-breaking. The broken bonds offer additional docking sites for adsorbates as confirmed in transport and AFM height studies. These controlled structural modifications may for instance be valuable for enhancing the local reactivity and trimming graphene based gas sensors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2008

Raman spectra of epitaxial graphene on SiC and of epitaxial graphene transferred to SiO2

Raman spectra were measured for mono-, bi- and trilayer graphene grown on SiC by solid state graphitization, whereby the number of layers was pre-assigned by angle-resolved ultraviolet photoemission spectroscopy. It was found that the only unambiguous fingerprint in Raman spectroscopy to identify the number of layers for graphene on SiC(0001) is the linewidth of the 2D (or D*) peak. The Raman spectra of epitaxial graphene show significant differences as compared to micromechanically cleaved graphene obtained from highly oriented pyrolytic graphite crystals. The G peak is found to be blue-shifted. The 2D peak does not exhibit any obvious shoulder structures but it is much broader and almost resembles a single-peak even for multilayers. Flakes of epitaxial graphene were transferred from SiC onto SiO2 for further Raman studies. A comparison of the Raman data obtained for graphene on SiC with data for epitaxial graphene transferred to SiO2 reveals that the G peak blue-shift is clearly due to the SiC substrate. The broadened 2D peak however stems from the graphene structure itself and not from the substrate.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗