The realization of quantum anomalous Hall effect in two dimensional electron gas.

The quantum anomalous Hall effect (QAHE), carrying dissipationless chiral edge states, occurs without any magnetic field. Two main strategies were proposed to host QAHE: the magnetic topological insulator thin films and graphene systems. Only the former one was realized in experiment at low temperature. In this paper, by dealing with the two-dimensional electron gas with an anti-dot lattice, a realistic platform is proposed to host the QAHE with both Chern number [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text]. Based on the calculation of the Berry curvature integral and spacial wave function, the topological nature of the QAH edge states is well demonstrated. In the QAH region, the conductance shows quantized plateaus and their values are robust against Anderson disorder. In addition, we have also studied the effects of the size and shape of the anti-dot lattice on QAHE and they provide extra manners to adjust the system parameters. Taking the advantages of the well developed micro-manufacture technique in semiconductors, the proposal is experimentally accessible in micro-scale.

The electronic transport efficiency of a graphene charge carrier guider and an Aharanov-Bohm interferometer.

The electrostatic gating defined channel in graphene forms a charge carrier guider. We theoretically investigated electronic transport properties of a single channel and an Aharanov-Bohm (AB) interferometer, based on a charge carrier guider in a graphene nanoribbon. Quantized conductance is found in a single channel, and the guider shows high efficiency in the optical fiber regime, in good agreement with the experiment results. For an AB interferometer without a magnetic field, quantized conductance occurs when there are a few modes inside the channel. The local density of states (LDOS) inside the AB interferometer shows quantum scars when the scattering is strong. At low magnetic field, a periodical conductance oscillation appears. The conductance has a maximum value at zero magnetic field in the absence of intravalley scattering. The mechanism was investigated by LDOS calculations and a toy model.

Manipulation and Characterization of the Valley-Polarized Topological Kink States in Graphene-Based Interferometers.

Valley polarized topological kink states, existing broadly in the domain wall of hexagonal lattice systems, are identified in experiments. Unfortunately, only very limited physical properties are given. Using an Aharanov-Bohm interferometer composed of domain walls in graphene systems, we study the periodical modulation of a pure valley current in a large range by tuning the magnetic field or the Fermi level. For a monolayer graphene device, there exists one topological kink state, and the oscillation of the transmission coefficients has a single period. The π Berry phase and the linear dispersion relation of kink states can be extracted from the transmission data. For a bilayer graphene device, there are two topological kink states with two oscillation periods. Our proposal provides an experimentally feasible route to manipulate and characterize the valley-polarized topological kink states in classical wave and electronic graphene-type crystalline systems.

Magnetic field mediated conductance oscillation in graphene p-n junctions.

The electronic transport of graphene p-n junctions under perpendicular magnetic field is investigated in theory. Under low magnetic field, the transport is determined by the resonant tunneling of Landau levels and conductance versus magnetic field shows a Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation. At higher magnetic field, the p-n junction subjected to the quasi-classical regime and the formation of snake states results in periodical backscattering and transmission as magnetic field varies. The conductance oscillation pattern is mediated both by magnetic field and the carrier concentration on bipolar regions. For medium magnetic field between above two regimes, the combined contributions of resonant tunneling, snake states oscillation and Aharanov-Bohm interference induce irregular oscillation of conductance. At very high magnetic field, the system is subjected to quantum Hall regime. Under disorder, the quantum tunneling at low magnetic field is slightly affected and the oscillation of snake states at higher magnetic field is suppressed. In the quantum Hall regime, the conductance is a constant as predicted by the mixture rule.

Investigation of valley-resolved transmission through gate defined graphene carrier guiders.

Massless charge carriers in gate potentials modulate graphene quantum well transport in the same way that a electromagnetic wave propagates in optical fibers. A recent experiment by Kim et al (2016 Nat. Phys. 12 1022) reports valley symmetry preserved transport in a graphene carrier guider. Based on a tight-binding model, the valley-resolved transport coefficients are calculated with the method of scattering matrix theory. For a straight potential well, valley-resolved conductance is quantized with a value of 2n + 1 and multiplied by 2e 2/h with integer n. In the absence of disorder, intervalley scattering, only occurring at both ends of the potential well, is weak. The propagating modes inside the potential well are analyzed with the help of band structure and wave function distribution. The conductance is better preserved for a longer carrier guider. The quantized conductance is barely affected by the boundaries of different types or slightly changing the orientation of the carrier guider. For a curved model, the state with momentum closes to the neutral point is more fragile to boundary scattering and the quantized conductance is ruined as well.

The Andreev reflection of zero line mode in graphene-superconductor hybrid junction.

The zero line mode (ZLM) in two dimensional materials provides a quasi-one dimensional path for electronic transport. We report the theoretical investigation of the Andreev reflection of ZLM by using the staggered graphene-superconductor based models. For a two-terminal system in which the valley index is well preserved, when graphene is zigzag edged, the Andreev reflection coefficient can be either large or strongly suppressed depending on the symmetric properties of the transverse wave function in graphene ribbon. However, the Andreev reflection coefficient, independent of the staggering profile in the armchair edged model, is large due to the absence of wave function symmetry. When ZLM changes its direction in a vertical path, a perfect Andreev reflection could happen when the incident ZLM stems from a zigzag edged graphene ribbon. In a zigzag edged four-terminal hybrid model, the interference of reflected holes leads to perfect Andreev reflection with probability unity and the annihilation of the crossed Andreev reflection. For the armchair edged model, the interference effect disappears because the Andreev reflection from one of the paths is prohibited. The interference of Andreev reflections in four-terminal models is investigated by spacial local density of states in the central scattering region as well.

Electronic transport between quantum Hall states and quantum anomalous Hall states in a graphene nanoribbon based heterojunction.

We theoretically investigate the electronic transport between quantum Hall states and quantum anomalous Hall states in a zigzag edged graphene nanoribbon based two-terminal heterojunction. The electrical conductance of the system is calculated by the method of the non-equilibrium Green's function and Landauer-Büttiker formula. We find perfect transmission through the junction when the propagation direction of the charge carriers is the same at the same edge in both regions. However, when the propagation direction at the same edge is the opposite, the electrical conductance is smaller than the quantized value. In this case, snake states at the interface are responsible for the transmission. The results are explained with the aid of the local density of states near the interface. For higher magnetic field in the quantum Hall region or larger ribbon width, the edge states are better realized and quantized electrical conductance is strengthened. Finally, the effects of Anderson disorder and dephasing on the transmission are discussed.

Spin thermopower and thermoconductance in a ferromagnetic graphene nanoribbon.

The spin thermoelectric properties of a zigzag edged ferromagnetic (FM) graphene nanoribbon are studied theoretically by using the non-equilibrium Green's function method combined with the Landauer-Büttiker formula. By applying a temperature gradient along the ribbon, under closed boundary conditions, there is a spin voltage ΔV(s) inside the terminal as the response to the temperature difference ΔT between two terminals. Meanwhile, the heat current ΔQ is accompanied from the 'hot' terminal to the 'cold' terminal. The spin thermopower S = ΔV(s)/ΔT and thermoconductance κ = ΔQ/ΔT are obtained. When there is no magnetic field, S versus E(R) curves show peaks and valleys as a result of band selective transmission and Klein tunneling with E(R) being the on-site energy of the right terminal. The results are in agreement with the semi-classical Mott relation. When |E(R)| < M (M is the FM exchange split energy), κ is infinitesimal because tunneling is prohibited by the band selective rule. While |E(R)| > M, the quantized value of κ = π2k2(B)T/3h appears. In the quantum Hall regime, because Klein tunneling is suppressed, S peaks are eliminated and the quantized value of κ is much clearer. We also investigate how the thermoelectric properties are affected by temperature, FM exchange split energy and Anderson disorder. The results indicate that S and κ are sensitive to disorder. S is suppressed for even small disorder strengths. For small disorder strengths, κ is enhanced and for moderate disorder strengths, κ shows quantized values.

Electronic transport through a graphene-based ferromagnetic/normal/ferromagnetic junction.

Electronic transport in a graphene-based ferromagnetic/normal/ferromagnetic junction is investigated by means of the Landauer-Büttiker formalism and the nonequilibrium Green function technique. For the zigzag edge case, the results show that the conductance is always larger than e(2)/h for the parallel configuration of lead magnetizations, but for the antiparallel configuration the conductance becomes zero because of the band-selective rule. Therefore, a magnetoresistance (MR) plateau emerges with the value 100% when the Fermi energy is located around the Dirac point. In addition, choosing narrower graphene ribbons can yield wider 100% MR plateaus and the length change of the central graphene region does not affect the 100% MR plateaus. Although the disorder will reduce the MR plateau, the plateau value can still be kept about 50% even in a large disorder strength case. In addition, when the magnetizations of the left and right leads have a relative angle, the conductance changes as a cosine function of the angle. What is more, for the armchair edge case, the MR is usually small. So, it is more favorable to fabricate a graphene-based spin valve device by using a zigzag edge graphene ribbon.

Transport properties of monolayer and bilayer graphene p-n junctions with charge puddles in the quantum Hall regime.

Recent experiments have confirmed that the electron-hole inhomogeneity in graphene is a new type of charge disorder. Motivated by such confirmation, we theoretically study the transport properties of a monolayer graphene (MLG) based p-n junction and a bilayer graphene (BLG) p-n junction in the quantum Hall regime where electron-hole puddles are considered. By using the non-equilibrium Green function method, both the current and conductance are obtained. We find that, in the presence of the electron-hole inhomogeneity, the lowest quantized conductance plateau at e(2)/h emerges in the MLG p-n junction under very small charge puddle disorder strength. For a BLG p-n junction, however, the conductance in the p-n region is enhanced with charge puddles, and the lowest quantized conductance plateau emerges at 2e(2)/h. Besides, when an ideal quantized conductance plateau is formed for a MLG p-n junction, the universal conductance fluctuation is found to be 2e(2)/3h. Furthermore, we also investigate the influence of Anderson disorder on such p-n junctions and the comparison and discussion are given accordingly. To compare the two models with different types of disorder, we investigate the conductance distribution specially. Finally the influence of disorder strength on the conductance of a MLG p-n junction is investigated.

Controllable Andreev retroreflection and specular Andreev reflection in a four-terminal graphene-superconductor hybrid system.

We report the investigation of electron transport through a four-terminal graphene-superconductor hybrid system. Because of the quantum interference of the reflected holes from two graphene-superconductor interfaces with a phase difference theta, it is found that the specular Andreev reflection vanishes at theta=0 while the Andreev retroreflection disappears at theta=pi. This means that retroreflection and specular reflection can be easily controlled and separated in this device. In addition, because of the diffraction effect in the narrow graphene nanoribbon, the reflected hole can exit from both graphene terminals. As the width of nanoribbon increases, the diffraction effect gradually disappears and the reflected hole eventually exits from a particular graphene terminal depending on the type of Andreev reflection.