Abstract: Nanoscale corrugation is a fundamental property of graphene arising from its low-dimensional nature. It places a fundamental limit to the conductivity of graphene and influences its properties. However the degree of the influence of the corrugation has not been well established because of the little knowledge about its spectrum in suspended graphene. We present a transmission electron microscopy technique that enables us to measure the average corrugation height and length. We applied the technique also to measure the temperature dependence of the corrugation. The difference in corrugation between suspended and supported graphene has been illustrated.

Abstract: The electronic structure of GaAs/AlxGa1−xAs and AlxGa1−xAs/GaAs core-shell nanowires grown in the [001] direction is studied. The k⋅p method with the 6×6 Kohn-Lüttinger Hamiltonian, taking into account the split-off band is used. The variation in the energy level dispersion, the spinor contribution to the ground state and the optical interband absorption are studied. For some range of parameters the top of the valence band exhibits a camelback structure which results in an extra peak in the optical absorption.

Abstract: Electrons on liquid helium can form different phases depending on density, and temperature. Also the electron-ripplon coupling strength influences the phase diagram, through the formation of so-called “ripplonic polarons”, that change how electrons are localized, and that shifts the transition between the Wigner solid and the liquid phase. We use an all-coupling, finite-temperature variational method to study the formation of a ripplopolaron Wigner solid on a liquid helium film for different regimes of the electron-ripplon coupling strength. In addition to the three known phases of the ripplopolaron system (electron Wigner solid, polaron Wigner solid, and electron fluid), we define and identify a fourth distinct phase, the ripplopolaron liquid. We analyse the transitions between these four phases and calculate the corresponding phase diagrams. This reveals a reentrant melting of the electron solid as a function of temperature. The calculated regions of existence of the Wigner solid are in agreement with recent experimental data.

Abstract: Magnetic flux patterns are known to strongly differ in the intermediate state of type-I and type-II superconductors. Using a type-I/type-II bilayer we demonstrate hybridization of these flux phases into a plethora of unique new ones. Owing to a complicated multibody interaction between individual fluxoids, many different intriguing patterns are possible under applied magnetic field, such as few-vortex clusters, vortex chains, mazes, or labyrinthal structures resembling the phenomena readily encountered in soft-matter physics. However, in our system the patterns are tunable by sample parameters, magnetic field, current, and temperature, which reveals transitions from short-range clustering to long-range ordered phases such as parallel chains, gels, glasses, and crystalline vortex lattices, or phases where lamellar type-I flux domains in one layer serve as a bedding potential for type-II vortices in the other, configurations clearly beyond the soft-matter analogy.

Abstract: In van der Waals heterostructures consisting of graphene and a substrate, lattice mismatch often leads to a moire pattern with a huge supercell, preventing its treatment within first- principles calculations. Previous theoretical works considered mostly simple stacking models such as AB, AA with straining the lattice of graphene to match that of the substrate. Here, we propose a moire superlattice build from graphene and porous graphene or graphyne like monolayers, having a lower interlayer binding energy, needing little strain in order to match the lattices. In contrast to the results from the simple stacking models, the present ab initio calculations for the moire superlattices show different properties in lattice structure, energy, and band structures. For example, the Dirac cone at the K point is preserved and a linear energy dispersion near the Fermi level is obtained.

Abstract: The Coulomb interaction and the correlation of a remote electron with a single layer of graphene is investigated in the presence of a magnetic field applied perpendicular to the graphene layer. The remote electron polarizes the electron gas in the graphene layer, which we describe in terms of excitations of virtual plasmons in graphene. The composite quasiparticle formed by electron plus polarization is called a plasmon polaron. The ground-state energy of this quasiparticle is calculated within perturbation theory for remote electrons in different environments.

Abstract: The interaction between electrons and plasmons in trilayer graphene is investigated within the Overhauser approach resulting in the “plasmaron” quasiparticle. This interaction is cast into a field theoretical problem, and its effect on the energy spectrum is calculated using improved Wigner-Brillouin perturbation theory. The plasmaron spectrum is shifted with respect to the bare electron spectrum by ΔE(k)∼150−200meV for ABC stacked trilayer graphene and for ABA trilayer graphene by ΔE(k)∼30−150 meV[ ΔE(k) ∼1 −5meV] for the hyperbolic (linear) part of the spectrum. The shift in general increases with the electron concentration and electron momentum. The dispersion of plasmarons is more pronounced in ABC stacked than in ABA stacked trilayer graphene, because of the different energy band structure and their different plasmon dispersion.

Abstract: A computational method is presented for angle-resolved photoemission spectra (ARPES) and photoelectron diffraction (PED) in the ultraviolet regime. The one-step model is employed and both initial valence and final continuum states are calculated using the finite-cluster, real-space multiple scattering method. Thereby the approach is versatile and provides a natural link to core-level PED. The method is applied to the Cu(111) valence band and good agreement with experiment is found for both ARPES spectra and PED patterns. When the PED patterns are integrated over a filled band of a single-orbital symmetry, such as Cu-3d, we show, both numerically and analytically, that the exact theory with delocalized initial states can be replaced by the much simpler, core-level-type theory where the initial states are taken as localized.

Abstract: The backward scattering of TM-polarized light by a two-side-open subwavelength slit in a metal film is analyzed. We show that the reflection coefficient versus wavelength possesses a Fabry-Perot-like dependence that is similar to the anomalous behavior of transmission reported in the study [Y. Takakura, Phys. Rev. Lett. 86, 5601 (2001)]. The open slit totally reflects the light at the near-to-resonance wavelengths. In addition, we show that the interference of incident and resonantly backward-scattered light produces in the near-field diffraction zone a spatially localized wave whose intensity is 10103 times greater than the incident wave, but one order of magnitude smaller than the intracavity intensity. The amplitude and phase of the resonant wave at the slit entrance and exit are different from that of a Fabry-Perot cavity.

Abstract: Using the valence force field model of Perebeinos and Tersoff (2009 Phys. Rev. B 79 241409(R)), different energy modes of suspended graphene subjected to tensile or compressive strain are studied. By carrying out Monte Carlo simulations it is found that: (i) only for small strains (vertical bar epsilon vertical bar (sic) 0.02) is the total energy symmetrical in the strain, while it behaves completely differently beyond this threshold; (ii) the important energy contributions in stretching experiments are stretching, angle bending, an out-of-plane term, and a term that provides repulsion against pi-pi misalignment; (iii) in compressing experiments the two latter terms increase rapidly, and beyond the buckling transition stretching and bending energies are found to be constant; (iv) from stretching-compressing simulations we calculated the Young's modulus at room temperature 350 +/- 3.15 N m(-1), which is in good agreement with experimental results (340 +/- 50 N m(-1)) and with ab initio results (322-353) N m(-1); (v) molar heat capacity is estimated to be 24.64 J mol(-1) K-1 which is comparable with the Dulong-Petit value, i. e. 24.94 J mol(-1) K-1, and is almost independent of the strain; (vi) nonlinear scaling properties are obtained from height-height correlations at finite temperature; (vii) the used valence force field model results in a temperature independent bending modulus for graphene, and (viii) the Gruneisen parameter is estimated to be 0.64.

Abstract: A microscopic theory for the coupling of molecular orientations with acoustic lattice displacements is proposed. The relevant interaction is quadratic in the orientational-order-parameter variables and linear in longitudinal strains. The coupling is evaluated for a complex molecular structure. The intermolecular potential is obtained from interaction centers placed at nuclei and at the centers of interatomic bonds. The free energy is derived and the experimental consequences of the theory are studied. The Clausius-Clapeyron equation for orientational melting is obtained. The theory explains the decrease of the lattice constant at the first-order phase transition and the increase of the transition temperature with applied pressure.