arXiv subjects

Sean M. Walker

Publications and source records attributed to Sean M. Walker.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Locally resolved electronic textures of reconstruction domains in marginally twisted monolayer-bilayer graphene

Controlling the stacking and rotational registry of graphene layers provides a powerful handle on atomic-scale structural reconstructions that alter the electronic landscape at the nanoscale. In particular, this governs how massless and massive Dirac fermions coexist and interact at the monolayer-bilayer graphene interface. In the limit of marginal twist, the system reconstructs into domains of distinct vertical stacking order, introducing characteristic electronic properties and new electronic length scales, a regime that, despite its structural richness, remains largely unexplored. Here, using scanning tunnelling microscopy and spectroscopy, we demonstrate that at very low rotation angles the monolayer-bilayer graphene system relaxes into a network of three distinct stacking domains with individual electronic textures revealed through spatially resolved spectroscopic mapping and corroborated by computed local density of states. We report switching of the hierarchy of the tunnelling characteristics between Bernal and rhombohedral domains as a function of bias voltage. Furthermore, the measured spectroscopic maps exhibit theoretically anticipated domain wall 'twirling' around energetically unfavorable AAB stacking nodes, promoted by out-of-plane deformations. Our results shed light on fundamental structure-property relationships underpinning moir\'e-driven phenomena, opening new avenues for harnessing structural degrees of freedom in van der Waals heterostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2023

Field effect two-dimensional electron gases in modulation-doped InSb surface quantum wells

We report on transport characteristics of field effect two-dimensional electron gases (2DEG) in surface indium antimonide quantum wells. The topmost 5 nm of the 30 nm wide quantum well is doped and shown to promote the formation of reliable, low resistance Ohmic contacts to surface InSb 2DEGs. High quality single-subband magnetotransport with clear quantized integer quantum Hall plateaus are observed to filling factor $ν=1$ in magnetic fields of up to $B=18$ T. We show that the electron density is gate-tunable, reproducible, and stable from pinch-off to 4$\times 10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$, and peak mobilities exceed 24,000 cm$^2$/Vs. Large Rashba spin-orbit coefficients up to 110 meV$\cdot$Å are obtained through weak anti-localization measurements. An effective mass of 0.019$m_e$ is determined from temperature-dependent magnetoresistance measurements, and a g-factor of 41 at a density of 3.6$\times 10^{11}$ cm$^{-2}$ is obtained from coincidence measurements in tilted magnetic fields. By comparing two heterostructures with and without a delta-doped layer beneath the quantum well, we find that the carrier density is stable with time when doping in the ternary Al$_{0.1}$In$_{0.9}$Sb barrier is not present. Finally, the effect of modulation doping on structural asymmetry between the two heterostructures is characterized.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Observation and manipulation of a phase separated state in a charge density wave material

The 1T polytype of TaS$_\textrm{2}$ has been studied extensively as a strongly correlated system. As 1T-TaS$_\textrm{2}$ is thinned towards the 2D limit, its phase diagram shows significant deviations from that of the bulk material. Optoelectronic maps of ultrathin 1T-TaS$_\textrm{2}$ have indicated the presence of non-equilibrium charge density wave phases within the hysteresis region of the nearly commensurate (NC) to commensurate (C) transition. We perform scanning tunneling microscopy on exfoliated ultrathin flakes of 1T-TaS$_\textrm{2}$ within the NC-C hysteresis window, finding evidence that the observed non-equilibrium phases consist of intertwined, irregularly shaped NC-like and C-like domains. After applying lateral electrical signals to the sample we image changes in the geometric arrangement of the different regions. We use a phase separation model to explore the relationship between electronic inhomogeneity present in ultrathin 1T-TaS$_\textrm{2}$ and its bulk resistivity. These results demonstrate the role of phase competition morphologies in determining the properties of 2D materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Network architecture for a topological quantum computer in silicon

A design for a large-scale surface code quantum processor based on a node/network approach is introduced for semiconductor quantum dot spin qubits. The minimal node contains only 7 quantum dots, and nodes are separated on the micron scale, creating useful space for wiring interconnects and integration of conventional transistor circuits. Entanglement is distributed between neighbouring nodes by loading spin singlets locally and then shuttling one member of the pair through a linear array of empty dots. Each node contains one data qubit, two ancilla qubits, and additional dots to facilitate electron shuttling and measurement of the ancillas. A four-node GHZ state is realized by sharing three internode singlets followed by local gate operations and ancilla measurements. Further local operations and measurements produce an X or Z stabilizer on four data qubits, which is the fundamental operation of the surface code. Electron shuttling is simulated using a simplified gate electrode geometry without explicit barrier gates, and demonstrates that adiabatic transport is possible on timescales that do not present a speed bottleneck to the processor. An important shuttling error in a clean system is uncontrolled phase rotation due to the modulation of the electronic g-factor during transport, owing to the Stark effect. This error can be reduced by appropriate electrostatic tuning of the stationary electron's g-factor. Using reasonable noise models, we estimate error thresholds with respect to single and two-qubit gate fidelities as well as singlet dephasing errors during shuttling. A twirling protocol transforms the non-Pauli noise associated with exchange gate operations into Pauli noise, making it possible to use the Gottesman-Knill theorem to efficiently simulate large codes.

quant-ph↗