arXiv subjects

Vitor M. Pereira

Publications and source records attributed to Vitor M. Pereira.

52 records · Page 3Linked to original sources

arXiv2010

Geometry, mechanics and electronics of singular structures and wrinkles in graphene

As the thinnest atomic membrane, graphene presents an opportunity to combine geometry, elasticity and electronics at the limits of their validity. The availability of reliable atomistic potentials for graphene allows unprecedented precise simulations of the mechanical response of atomic membranes. Here we describe the transport and electronic structure in the neighbourhood of conical singularities, the elementary excitations of the ubiquitous wrinkled and crumpled graphene that occur in non-epitaxial suspended samples where shear stresses are unavoidable. We use a combination of atomistic mechanical simulations, analytical geometry and transport calculations in curved graphene, and exact diagonalization of the electronic spectrum to calculate the effects of geometry on electronic structure, transport and mobility in suspended samples. We also point out how the geometry-generated pseudo-magnetic/electric fields might disrupt Landau quantization under a magnetic field.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

Magnetism in strained graphene dots

We study the magnetization of square and hexagonal graphene dots. It is shown that two classes of hexagonal dots have a second order phase transition at a critical Hubbard energy $U$, whoose value is similar to the one in bulk graphene, albeit the dots do not have a density of states proportional to the absolute value of the energy, relatively to the Dirac point. Furthermore, we show that a particular class of hexagonal dots having zig-zag edges, does not exhibit zero energy edge states. We also study the effect of uniaxial strain on the evolution of the magnetization of square dots, and find that the overall effect is an enhancement of magnetization with strain. The enhancement can be as large as 100% for strain of the order of 20%. Additionaly, stress induces a spatial displacement of the magnetization over the dot, moving it from the zig-zag to the armchair edges.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

A tight-binding approach to uniaxial strain in graphene

We analyze the effect of tensional strain in the electronic structure of graphene. In the absence of electron-electron interactions, within linear elasticity theory, and a tight-binding approach, we observe that strain can generate a bulk spectral gap. However this gap is critical, requiring threshold deformations in excess of 20%, and only along preferred directions with respect to the underlying lattice. The gapless Dirac spectrum is robust for small and moderate deformations, and the gap appears as a consequence of the merging of the two inequivalent Dirac points, only under considerable deformations of the lattice. We discuss how strain-induced anisotropy and local deformations can be used as a means to affect transport characteristics and pinch off current flow in graphene devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2009

Strained graphene: tight-binding and density functional calculations

We determine the band structure of graphene under strain using density functional calculations. The ab-initio band strucure is then used to extract the best fit to the tight-binding hopping parameters used in a recent microscopic model of strained graphene. It is found that the hopping parameters may increase or decrease upon increasing strain, depending on the orientation of the applied stress. The fitted values are compared with an available parametrization for the dependence of the orbital overlap on the distance separating the two carbon atoms. It is also found that strain does not induce a gap in graphene, at least for deformations up to 10%.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2009

All-graphene integrated circuits via strain engineering

We propose a route to all-graphene integrated electronic devices by exploring the influence of strain on the electronic structure of graphene. We show that strain can be easily tailored to generate electron beam collimation, 1D channels, surface states and confinement, the basic elements for all-graphene electronics. In addition this proposal has the advantage that patterning can be made on substrates rather than on the graphene sheet, thereby protecting the integrity of the latter.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Adatoms in Graphene

We review the problem of adatoms in graphene under two complementary points of view, scattering theory and strong correlations. We show that in both cases impurity atoms on the graphene surface present effects that are absent in the physics of impurities in ordinary metals. We discuss how to observe these unusual effects with standard experimental probes such as scanning tunneling microscopes, and spin susceptibility.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2008

Distortion of the perfect lattice structure in bilayer graphene

We consider the instability of bilayer graphene with respect to a distorted configuration in the same spirit as the model introduced by Su, Schrieffer and Heeger. By computing the total energy of a distorted bilayer, we conclude that the ground state of the system favors a finite distortion. We explore how the equilibrium configuration changes with carrier density and an applied potential difference between the two layers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Polarization Charge Distribution in Gapped Graphene

We study the distribution of vacuum polarization charge induced by a Coulomb impurity in massive graphene. By analytically computing the polarization function, we show that the charge density is distributed in space in a non-trivial fashion, and on a characteristic length-scale set by the effective Compton wavelength. The density crosses over from a logarithmic behavior below this scale, to a power law variation above it. Our results in the continuum limit are confirmed by explicit diagonalization of the corresponding tight-binding model on a finite-size lattice. Electron-electron interaction effects are also discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Supercritical Coulomb Impurities in Gapped Graphene

We study the problem of Coulomb field-induced charging of the ground state in a system of 2D massive Dirac particles (gapped graphene). As in its 3D QED counterpart, the critical Coulomb coupling is renormalized to higher values, compared to the massless case. We find that in gapped graphene a novel supercritical regime is possible, where the screening charge is comparable to the impurity charge, thus leading to suppression of the Coulomb field at nanometer scales. We corroborate this with numerical solution of the tight-binding problem in the honeycomb lattice.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2008

Double Exchange Model at Low Densities: Magnetic Polarons and Coulomb Suppressed Phase Separation

We consider the double exchange model at very low densities. The conditions for the formation of self-trapped magnetic polarons are analyzed using an independent polaron model. The issue of phase separation in the low density region of the temperature-density phase diagram is discussed. We show how electrostatic and localization effects can lead to the substantial suppression of the phase separated regime. By examining connections between the resulting phase and the polaronic phase, we conclude that they reflect essentially the same physical situation of a ferromagnetic droplet containing one single electron. In the ultra diluted regime, we explore the possible stabilization of a Wigner crystal of magnetic polarons. Our results are compared with the experimental evidence for a polaronic phase in europium hexaboride, and we are able to reproduce the experimental region of stability of the polaronic phase. We further demonstrate that phase-separation is a general feature expected in metallic ferromagnets whose bandwidth depends on the magnetization.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2007

Modeling disorder in graphene

We present a study of different models of local disorder in graphene. Our focus is on the main effects that vacancies -- random, compensated and uncompensated --, local impurities and substitutional impurities bring into the electronic structure of graphene. By exploring these types of disorder and their connections, we show that they introduce dramatic changes in the low energy spectrum of graphene, viz. localized zero modes, strong resonances, gap and pseudogap behavior, and non-dispersive midgap zero modes.

cond-mat.dis-nn↗

arXiv2007

The Coulomb impurity problem in graphene

We address the problem of an unscreened Coulomb charge in graphene, and calculate the local density of states and displaced charge as a function of energy and distance from the impurity. This is done non-perturbatively in two different ways: (1) solving the problem exactly by studying numerically the tight-binding model on the lattice; (2) using the continuum description in terms of the 2D Dirac equation. We show that the Dirac equation, when properly regularized, provides a qualitative and quantitative low energy description of the problem. The lattice solution shows extra features that cannot be described by the Dirac equation, namely bound state formation and strong renormalization of the van Hove singularities.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2006

Disorder Induced Localized States in Graphene

We consider the electronic structure near vacancies in the half-filled honeycomb lattice. It is shown that vacancies induce the formation of localized states. When particle-hole symmetry is broken, localized states become resonances close to the Fermi level. We also study the problem of a finite density of vacancies, obtaining the electronic density of states, and discussing the issue of electronic localization in these systems. Our results also have relevance for the problem of disorder in d-wave superconductors.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2005

The Double Exchange Model at Low Densities

We obtain the phase diagram of the double-exchange model at low electronic densities in the presence of electron-electron interactions. The single particle problem and its extension to low electronic densities, when a Wigner crystal of magnetic polarons is generated due to unscreened Coulomb interactions, is studied. It is argued that the Wigner crystal is the natural alternative to phase separation when the Coulomb interaction is taken into account. We discuss the thermal and quantum stability of the crystalline phase towards a polaronic Fermi liquid and a homogeneous, metallic, ferromagnetic phase. The relevance and application of our results to EuB_6 is also considered.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2004

Double Exchange Model for Magnetic Hexaborides

A microscopic theory for rare-earth ferromagnetic hexaborides, such as Eu(1-x)Ca(x)B6, is proposed on the basis of the double-exchange Hamiltonian. In these systems, the reduced carrier concentrations place the Fermi level near the mobility edge, introduced in the spectral density by the disordered spin background. We show that the transport properties such as Hall effect, magnetoresitance, frequency dependent conductivity, and DC resistivity can be quantitatively described within the model. We also make specific predictions for the behavior of the Curie temperature, Tc, as a function of the plasma frequency, omega_p.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2003

Scaling Study of the Metal-Insulator Transition in one-Dimensional Fermion Systems

We consider the Ising phase of the antiferromagnetic XXZ Heisenberg chain on a finite-size lattice with N sites.We compute the large $N$ behavior of the spin stiffness, obtaining the correlation length ξ. We use our results to discuss the scaling behavior of metal-insulator transitions in 1D systems, taking into account the mapping between the XXZ Heisenberg chain and the spinless fermion model and known results for the Hubbard model. We study the scaling properties of both the Hubbard model and the XXZ Heisenberg chain, by solving numerically the Bethe Ansatz equations. We find that for some range of values of ξ/N the scaling behavior may be observed for the Hubbard model but not for the XXZ Heisenserg chain. We show how ξcan be obtained from the scaling properties of the spin stiffness for small system sizes. This method can be applied to models having not an exact solution, illuminating their transport properties.

cond-mat.str-el↗