Abstract: Using first-principles calculations and reactive force field molecular dynamics simulations, we study the structural properties and dynamics of a fluorine (F) atom, either adsorbed on the surface of single layer graphene (F/GE) or between the layers of AB stacked bilayer graphene (F@ bilayer graphene). It is found that the diffusion of the F atom is very different in those cases, and that the mobility of the F atom increases by about an order of magnitude when inserted between two graphene layers. The obtained diffusion constant for F/GE is twice larger than that experimentally found for gold adatom and theoretically found for C-60 molecule on graphene. Our study provides important physical insights into the dynamics of fluorine atoms between and on graphene layers and explains the mechanism behind the separation of graphite layers due to intercalation of F atoms.

Abstract: The adsorption characteristics of alkali, alkaline-earth, and transition metal adatoms on silicene, a graphene-like monolayer structure of silicon are analyzed by means of first-principles calculations. In contrast to graphene, interaction between the metal atoms and the silicene surface is quite strong due to its highly reactive buckled hexagonal structure. In addition to structural properties, we also calculate the electronic band dispersion, net magnetic moment, charge transfer, work function, and dipole moment of the metal adsorbed silicene sheets. Alkali metals, Li, Na, and K, adsorb to hollow sites without any lattice distortion. As a consequence of the significant charge transfer from alkalis to silicene, metalization of silicene takes place. Trends directly related to atomic size, adsorption height, work function, and dipole moment of the silicene/alkali adatom system are also revealed. We found that the adsorption of alkaline-earth metals on silicene is entirely different from their adsorption on graphene. The adsorption of Be, Mg, and Ca turns silicene into a narrow gap semiconductor. Adsorption characteristics of eight transition metals Ti, V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Mo, and W are also investigated. As a result of their partially occupied d orbital, transition metals show diverse structural, electronic, and magnetic properties. Upon the adsorption of transition metals, depending on the adatom type and atomic radius, the system can exhibit metal, half-metal, and semiconducting behavior. For all metal adsorbates, the direction of the charge transfer is from adsorbate to silicene, because of its high surface reactivity. Our results indicate that the reactive crystal structure of silicene provides a rich playground for functionalization at nanoscale. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.085423

Abstract: Typical Raman spectra of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) display two prominent peaks, E-2g and A(1g), that are well separated from each other. We find that these modes are degenerate in bulk WSe2 yielding one single Raman peak in contrast to other TMDs. As the dimensionality is lowered, the observed peak splits in two. In contrast, our ab initio calculations predict that the degeneracy is retained even for WSe2 monolayers. Interestingly, for minuscule biaxial strain, the degeneracy is preserved, but once the crystal symmetry is broken by a small uniaxial strain, the degeneracy is lifted. Our calculated phonon dispersion for uniaxially strained WSe2 shows a good match to the measured Raman spectrum, which suggests that uniaxial strain exists in WSe2 flakes, possibly induced during the sample preparation and/or as a result of the interaction between WSe2 and the substrate. Furthermore, we find that WSe2 undergoes an indirect-to-direct band-gap transition from bulk to monolayers, which is ubiquitous for semiconducting TMDs. These results not only allow us to understand the vibrational and electronic properties of WSe2, but also point to effects of the interaction between the monolayer TMDs and the substrate on the vibrational and electronic properties. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.165409

Abstract: Superconductivity in nanowires made of weak coupling superconductor materials is investigated using a Green function approach. We show that these are multigap systems in which the ratio Delta(T)/k(B)T(c) is to a large extent similar to what is observed in some high-T-c two-gap systems, such as MgB2 and some of the Fe-based superconductors. On the other hand, because of confinement, the superfluid density has a temperature behavior of the form n(s)(T) = 1 – (T/T-c)(3) near T-c, thus deviating from the BCS behavior for bulk superconductors.

Abstract: We performed a detailed investigation of the oxidation of the technologically relevant GaAs(001)-beta 2(2x4) surface via density functional calculations. The purpose is to gain insights on the atomistic mechanisms and local bondings that underlie the degradation of the surface properties once exposed to oxygen. The study comprises the adsorption of single O atoms, through the sampling of several adsorption sites, and the subsequent formation of the O adsorbate at increasing coverage by taking into account multiple-atom adsorption. Based on the evaluation of the energetics and the structural properties of the atomistic models generated, the results here reported delineate a consistent picture of the initial stage of the surface oxidation: (i) at low coverage, in the limit of single O insertions, oxygen is incorporated on the surface forming a twofold-bridging Ga-O-As bond; (ii) at increasing coverage, as multiple O atoms are involved, this is accompanied by the formation of a threefold-coordinated bond (with two Ga and one As atoms); (iii) the latter has important implications regarding the electronic properties of the adsorbate since this O bonding may result in the formation of As dangling bonds. Moreover, a clear trend of increased energy gain for the incorporation of neighboring O atoms compared to single O insertions indicates that the formation of oxide clusters is favored over a regime of uniform oxidation. Our findings provide a detailed description of the O bonding and stress the importance of modeling the adsorption of multiple O atoms for an accurate description of the surface oxidation.

Abstract: After the advent of energy-loss magnetic chiral dichroism (EMCD) in 2006, rapid progress in theoretical understanding and in experimental performance was achieved, recently demonstrating a spatial resolution of better than 2 nm. Similar to the x-ray magnetic circular dichroism technique, EMCD is used to study atom specific magnetic moments. The latest generation of electron microscopes opens the road to the mapping of spin moments on the atomic scale with this method. Here the theoretical background to reach this challenging aim is elaborated. Numerical simulations of the L3 transition in an Fe specimen, based on a combination of the density-matrix approach for inelastic electron scattering with the propagation of the probe electron in the lattice potential indicate the feasibility of single spin mapping in the electron microscope.

Abstract: The cyclotron resonance energies, the corresponding oscillator strengths, and the cyclotron absorption spectrum for trilayer graphene are calculated for both ABA and ABC stacking. A gate potential across the stacked layers leads to (1) a reduction of the transition energies, (2) a lifting of the degeneracy of the zero Landau level, and (3) the removal of the electron-hole symmetry.

Abstract: The electronic spectrum of three coupled graphene layers (graphene trilayers) is investigated in the presence of an external magnetic field. We obtain analytical expressions for the Landau level spectrum for both the ABA and ABC type of stacking, which exhibit very different dependence on the magnetic field. We show that layer asymmetry and an external gate voltage can strongly influence the properties of the system.

Abstract: We investigate the effect of Rashba and intrinsic spin-orbit couplings on the electronic properties and spin configurations of Dirac fermions confined in: (i) a flat graphene sheet, (ii) a graphene wire with p-n-p structure, and (iii) a superlattice of graphene wires. The interplay between the spin-orbit interaction mechanisms breaks the electron-hole symmetry and the spin configuration induced by Rashba spin-orbit coupling lacks inversion symmetry in k space. We show that the Rashba spin-orbit interaction doubles the Fabry-Perot resonant modes in the transmission spectrum of a graphene wire and opens new channels for the electron transmission. Moreover, it leads to the appearance of spin split extra Dirac cones in the energy spectrum of a graphene superlattice. It is shown that the spin of the electrons and holes confined in a flat graphene sheet is always perpendicular to their motion while this is not the case for the other nanostructures.