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Title: Imaging electrostatically confined Dirac fermions in graphene quantum dots

Abstract

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.

Authors:
 [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)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF)
OSTI Identifier:
1530257
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; DMR-1231319
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 12; Journal Issue: 11; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group (NPG)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS

Citation Formats

Lee, Juwon, Wong, Dillon, Velasco Jr, Jairo, Rodriguez-Nieva, Joaquin F., Kahn, Salman, Tsai, Hsin-Zon, Taniguchi, Takashi, Watanabe, Kenji, Zettl, Alex, Wang, Feng, Levitov, Leonid S., and Crommie, Michael F. Imaging electrostatically confined Dirac fermions in graphene quantum dots. United States: N. p., 2016. Web. doi:10.1038/nphys3805.
Lee, Juwon, Wong, Dillon, Velasco Jr, Jairo, Rodriguez-Nieva, Joaquin F., Kahn, Salman, Tsai, Hsin-Zon, Taniguchi, Takashi, Watanabe, Kenji, Zettl, Alex, Wang, Feng, Levitov, Leonid S., & Crommie, Michael F. Imaging electrostatically confined Dirac fermions in graphene quantum dots. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3805
Lee, Juwon, Wong, Dillon, Velasco Jr, Jairo, Rodriguez-Nieva, Joaquin F., Kahn, Salman, Tsai, Hsin-Zon, Taniguchi, Takashi, Watanabe, Kenji, Zettl, Alex, Wang, Feng, Levitov, Leonid S., and Crommie, Michael F. Mon . "Imaging electrostatically confined Dirac fermions in graphene quantum dots". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3805. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1530257.
@article{osti_1530257,
title = {Imaging electrostatically confined Dirac fermions in graphene quantum dots},
author = {Lee, Juwon and Wong, Dillon and Velasco Jr, Jairo and Rodriguez-Nieva, Joaquin F. and Kahn, Salman and Tsai, Hsin-Zon and Taniguchi, Takashi and Watanabe, Kenji and Zettl, Alex and Wang, Feng and Levitov, Leonid S. and Crommie, Michael F.},
abstractNote = {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.},
doi = {10.1038/nphys3805},
journal = {Nature Physics},
number = 11,
volume = 12,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jun 27 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Mon Jun 27 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}

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