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Title: Imaging electrostatically confined Dirac fermions in graphene quantum dots

Journal Article · · Nature Physics
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3805· OSTI ID:1530257
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [1];  [1];  [4]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [5];  [3];  [5]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Santa Cruz, CA (United States)
  3. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
  4. National Inst. for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba (Japan)
  5. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Electrostatic confinement of charge carriers in graphene is governed by Klein tunnelling, a relativistic quantum process in which particle-hole transmutation leads to unusual anisotropic transmission at p-n junction boundaries. Reflection and transmission at these boundaries affect the quantum interference of electronic waves, enabling the formation of novel quasi-bound states. Here we report the use of scanning tunnelling microscopy to map the electronic structure of Dirac fermions confined in quantum dots defined by circular graphene p-n junctions. The quantum dots were fabricated using a technique involving local manipulation of defect charge within the insulating substrate beneath a graphene monolayer. Inside such graphene quantum dots we observe resonances due to quasi-bound states and directly visualize the quantum interference patterns arising from these states. Outside the quantum dots Dirac fermions exhibit Friedel oscillation-like behaviour. Bolstered by a theoretical model describing relativistic particles in a harmonic oscillator potential, our findings yield insights into the spatial behaviour of electrostatically confined Dirac fermions.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-05CH11231; DMR-1231319
OSTI ID:
1530257
Journal Information:
Nature Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 11; ISSN 1745-2473
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group (NPG)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 141 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (45)

Atomic‐Scale Manipulation and In Situ Characterization with Scanning Tunneling Microscopy journal October 2019
Confined Synthesis of Carbon Nitride in a Layered Host Matrix with Unprecedented Solid-State Quantum Yield and Stability journal November 2017
Zero‐Energy Vortices in Dirac Materials journal March 2019
Experimental Observation of Bound States of 2D Dirac Electrons at Surface Steps of the Topological Insulator Bi 2 Se 3 journal January 2019
Functionalized DNA Enables Programming Exosomes/Vesicles for Tumor Imaging and Therapy journal October 2019
Full-color carbon dots with multiple red-emission tuning: on/off sensors, in vitro and in vivo multicolor bioimaging journal January 2019
Tuning a circular p–n junction in graphene from quantum confinement to optical guiding journal September 2017
Klein tunnelling and electron trapping in nanometre-scale graphene quantum dots journal June 2016
Bielectron vortices in two-dimensional Dirac semimetals journal October 2017
Electronic transport in planar atomic-scale structures measured by two-probe scanning tunneling spectroscopy journal April 2019
Programmable graphene nanobubbles with three-fold symmetric pseudo-magnetic fields journal July 2019
Unraveling the cooperative synergy of zero-dimensional graphene quantum dots and metal nanocrystals enabled by layer-by-layer assembly journal January 2018
Insight into the charge transport correlation in Au x clusters and graphene quantum dots deposited on TiO 2 nanotubes for photoelectrochemical oxygen evolution journal January 2018
Plasmon-induced photoelectrochemical water oxidation enabled by in situ layer-by-layer construction of cascade charge transfer channel in multilayered photoanode journal January 2018
Mask aligner for ultrahigh vacuum with capacitive distance control journal April 2018
Graphene quantum blisters: A tunable system to confine charge carriers journal May 2018
Persistent and reversible electrostatic control of doping in graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructures journal January 2020
Accessing ratios of quantized resistances in graphene pn junction devices using multiple terminals journal February 2020
On the density of states of circular graphene quantum dots journal August 2017
Confined states in graphene quantum blisters journal August 2018
WSe 2 homojunctions and quantum dots created by patterned hydrogenation of epitaxial graphene substrates journal January 2019
Electronic and quantum transport properties of a graphene-BN dot-ring hetero-nanostructure journal April 2018
Tunneling Spectra of a Quasifreestanding Graphene Monolayer journal May 2018
Imaging Dirac fermions flow through a circular Veselago lens journal July 2019
Effective medium theory for electron waves in a gate-defined quantum dot array in graphene journal July 2019
Splitting of conductance resonance through a magnetic quantum dot in graphene journal July 2019
Chaos and the dynamics of information in dissipative electronic systems journal September 2019
Tuning single-electron charging and interactions between compressible Landau level islands in graphene journal January 2020
Helical level structure of Dirac potential wells journal November 2017
Quantum transport in graphene p n junctions with moiré superlattice modulation journal July 2018
Electrical confinement in a spectrum of two-dimensional Dirac materials with classically integrable, mixed, and chaotic dynamics journal February 2020
Selective trapping of hexagonally warped topological surface states in a triangular quantum corral journal May 2019
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Selective Trapping of Hexagonally Warped Topological Surface States in a Triangular Quantum Corral text January 2022
Electrostatically confined monolayer graphene quantum dots with orbital and valley splittings text January 2016

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