Presented By: Department of Physics
CM Theory Seminar | Quantum Donuts and Wedding Cakes: Topology- and Interaction-driven Effects in Graphene Quantum Dots
Christopher Gutierrez (University of British Columbia)
Graphene is a quasi two-dimensional material with low-energy excitations that can be described by the relativistic Dirac equation for massless chiral fermions. This has allowed graphene to act as a host solid state system for measuring analogous relativistic effects on a laboratory table-top. Recently, the ability to generate nanoscale substrate gate potentials in hexagonal boron nitride has opened the door for creating confined quantum dot (QD) states in a contiguous sheet of graphene. Unlike other QD systems, graphene’s exposed electronic surface is uniquely amenable to scanning probe measurements that reveal the detailed spatial structure of the resonant QD states. In this talk I will present scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/S) measurements that explore the interplay between spatial and magnetic confinement of Dirac fermions in graphene QDs. I will first describe how quasi-bound resonances occur due to relativistic Klein scattering at QD edges. I will then show how the application of a weak magnetic field (B ~ 0.1 T) can act as a topological Berry phase on/off “switch” resulting in the sudden onset of large energy splittings in the graphene QD spectrum. Finally, at higher fields (B > 1T), I describe measurements that directly visualize the intricate evolution of the QD resonant states into highly degenerate Landau levels where electron interactions lead to the subsequent formation of a 'wedding cake'-like structure of compressible incompressible strips and strong Fermi velocity renormalization.
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