Thermoelectric Transport in a Three-Dimensional HgTe Topological Insulator

The thermoelectric response of 80 nm-thick strained HgTe films of a three-dimensional topological insulator (3D TI) has been studied experimentally. An ambipolar thermopower is observed where the Fermi energy moves from conducting to the valence bulk band. The comparison between theory and experiment shows that the thermopower is mostly due to the phonon drag contribution. In the region where the 2D Dirac electrons coexist with bulk hole states, the Seebeck coefficient is modified due to 2D electron–3D hole scattering.

Assessing the effect of H on the electronic properties of 4H-SiC

As a common impurity in 4H-silicon carbide (4H-SiC), hydrogen (H) may play a role in the tuning of the electronic properties of 4H-SiC. In this work, we systemically explore the effect of H on the electronic properties of both n-type and p-type 4H-SiC. The passivation of H for intrinsic defects such as carbon vacancies (VC) and silicon vacancies (VSi) in 4H-SiC is also evaluated. We find that interstitial H at the bonding center of the Si-C bond (Hi bc) and interstitial H at the tetrahedral center of Si (Hi Si-te) dominate the defect configurations of H in p-type and n-type 4H-SiC, respectively. For n-type 4H-SiC, the compensation of Hi Si-te is found to pin the Fermi energy and hinder the increase of electron concentration for highly N-doped 4H-SiC. The compensation of Hi bc is negligible compared to that of VC on the p-type doping of Al-doped 4H-SiC. We have further examined whether H can passivate VC and improve carrier lifetime in 4H-SiC. It turns out that nonequilibrium passivation of VC by H is effective to eliminate the defect states of VC, which enhances the carrier lifetime of moderately doped 4H-SiC. Regarding the quantum-qubit applications of 4H-SiC, we find that H can readily passivate VSi during the creation of VSi centers. Thermal annealing is needed to decompose the resulting VSi-nH (n=1~4) complexes and promote the uniformity of the photoluminescence of VSi arrays in 4H-SiC. The current work may inspire the further development of the impurity engineering of H in 4H-SiC.

The Magneto Electron Statistics in Heavily Doped N Type-Intrinsic-P Type-Intrinsic Structures

In this paper we study the Electron Statistics in Heavily Doped N Type-Intrinsic-P Type-Intrinsic structures of non-linear optical, tetragonal and opto-electronic materials in the presence of magnetic quantization. It is found taking such heavily doped structures of Cd3As2, CdGeAs2, InAs, InSb, Hg1−xCdxTe, In1−xGaxAsyP1−y as examples that the Fermi energy (EF) oscillates with inverse quantizing magnetic field (1/B) and increases with increasing electron concentration with different numerical magnitudes which is the signature of respective band structure. The numerical value of the Fermi energy is different in different cases due to the different values of the energy band constants.

Quasi-particle interference of the van Hove singularity in Sr2RuO4

The single-layered ruthenate Sr2RuO4 is one of the most enigmatic unconventional superconductors. While for many years it was thought to be the best candidate for a chiral p-wave superconducting ground state, desirable for topological quantum computations, recent experiments suggest a singlet state, ruling out the original p-wave scenario. The superconductivity as well as the properties of the multi-layered compounds of the ruthenate perovskites are strongly influenced by a van Hove singularity in proximity of the Fermi energy. Tiny structural distortions move the van Hove singularity across the Fermi energy with dramatic consequences for the physical properties. Here, we determine the electronic structure of the van Hove singularity in the surface layer of Sr2RuO4 by quasi-particle interference imaging. We trace its dispersion and demonstrate from a model calculation accounting for the full vacuum overlap of the wave functions that its detection is facilitated through the octahedral rotations in the surface layer.

Iron group nuclei electron capture in super-Chandrasekhar superstrong magnetic white dwarfs

Using the theory of relativistic mean-field effective interactions, the influences of superstrong magnetic fields (SMFs) on electron Fermi energy, binding energy per nucleus and single-particle level structure are discussed in super-Chandrasekhar magnetic white dwarfs. Based on the relativistical SMFs theory model of Potekhin et al., the electron chemical potential is corrected in SMFs, and the electron capture (EC) of iron group nuclei is investigated by using the Shell-Model Monte Carlo method and Random Phase Approximation theory. The EC rates can increase by more than three orders of magnitude due to the increase of the electron Fermi energy and the change of single-particle level structure by SMFs. However, the EC rates can decrease by more than four orders of magnitude due to increase of the nuclei binding energy by SMFs. We compare our results with those of FFNs (Fuller et al.), AUFDs (Aufderheide et al.) and Nabi (Nabi et al.). Our rates are higher by about four orders of magnitude than those of FFN, AUFD and Nabi due to SMFs. Our study may have important reference value for subsequent studies of the instability, mass radius relationship, and thermal and magnetic evolution of super-Chandrasekhar magnetic white dwarfs.

Phonon Drag Thermopower in Silicene in Equipartition Regime at Room Temperature

Similar to graphene, zero band gap limits the application of Silicene in nanoelectronics despite of its high carrier mobility. In this article we calculate the contribution of electron-phonon interaction to thermoelectric effects in silicene. One considers the case of free standing silicene taking into account interaction with intrinsic acoustic phonons. The temperature considered here is at room temperature. We noticed that the contribution to thermoelectromotive force due to electron drag by phonons is determined by the Fermi energy. The explicit temperature dependence of the contribution to thermoelectromotive force deriving from by phonons is weak in contrast to that due to diffusion, which is directly proportional to temperature. Thus a theoretical limit has been established for a possible increase of the thermoelectromotive force through electron drag by the intrinsic phonons of silicene. Keywords: Phonon-drag thermopower, electron-diffusion thermopower, silicene, fermi energy, zero band gap

Full 360° Terahertz Dynamic Phase Modulation Based on Doubly Resonant Graphene–Metal Hybrid Metasurfaces

Dynamic phase modulation is vital for tuneable focusing, beaming, polarisation conversion and holography. However, it remains challenging to achieve full 360° dynamic phase modulation while maintaining high reflectance or transmittance based on metamaterials or metasurfaces in the terahertz regime. Here, we propose a doubly resonant graphene–metal hybrid metasurface to address this challenge. Simulation results show that by varying the graphene Fermi energy, the proposed metasurface with two shifting resonances is capable of providing dynamic phase modulation covering a range of 361° while maintaining relatively high reflectance above 20% at 1.05 THz. Based on the phase profile design, dynamically tuneable beam steering and focusing were numerically demonstrated. We expect that this work will advance the engineering of graphene metasurfaces for the dynamic manipulation of terahertz waves.

First-Principles Study of Vacancy and Impurities Defects in Graphene

In this work, we have studied the electronic and magnetic properties of 1C atom vacancy defects in graphene (1Cv-d-G), 1N atom impurity defects in graphene (1NI-d-G) and 1O atom impurity defects in graphene (1OI-d-G) materials through first principles calculations based on spin-polarized density functional theory (DFT) method, using computational tool Quantum ESPRESSO (QE) code. From band structure and density of states (DOS) calculations, we found that supercell structure of monolayer graphene is a zero bandgap material. But, electronic bands of 1Cv-d-G, 1NI-d-G and 1OI-d-G materials split around the Fermi energy level and DOS of up & down spins states appear in the Fermi energy level. Thus, 1Cv-d-G, 1NI-d-G and 1OI-d-G materials have metallic properties. We have studied the magnetic properties of pure and defected materials by analyzing density of states (DOS) and partial density of states (PDOS) calculations. We found that graphene and 1OI-d-G materials have non-magnetic properties. On the other hand, 1C vacancy atom and 1N impurity atom induced magnetization in 1Cv-d-G & 1NI-d-G materials by the rebonding of dangling bonds and acquiring significant magnetic moments of values -0.75μB/cell & 0.05μB/cell respectively through remaining unsaturated dangling bond. Therefore, non-magnetic graphene changes to magnetic 1Cv-d-G and 1NI-d-G materials due to 1C atom vacancy defects and 1N atom impurity defects. The 2p orbital of carbon atoms has main contribution of magnetic moment in these defected structures.

Tunable coupling of terahertz Dirac plasmons and phonons in transition metal dichalcogenide-based van der Waals heterostructures

Dirac plasmons in graphene hybridize with phonons of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) when the materials are combined in so-called van der Waals heterostructures (vdWh), thus forming surface plasmon-phonon polaritons (SPPPs). The extend to which these modes are coupled depends on the TMD composition and structure, but also on the plasmons' properties. By performing realistic simulations that account for the contribution of each layer of the vdWh separately, we calculate how the strength of plasmon-phonon coupling depends on the number and composition of TMD layers, on the graphene Fermi energy and the specific phonon mode. From this, we present a semiclassical theory that is capable of capturing all relevant characteristics of the SPPPs. We find that it is possible to realize both strong and ultra-strong coupling regimes by tuning graphene's Fermi energy and changing TMD layer number.