Abstract: The energy spectrum of a one-electron quantum dot doped with a single magnetic ion is studied in the presence of an external magnetic field. The allowed cyclotron resonance (CR) transitions are obtained together with their oscillator strength as a function of the magnetic field, the position of the magnetic ion, and the quantum dot confinement strength. With increasing magnetic field a ferromagnetic-antiferromagnetic transition is found, which results in clear signatures in the CR absorption. It leads to discontinuities in the transition energies and the oscillator strengths and to an increase in the number of allowed transitions.

Abstract: Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are considered as promising candidates for next generation of electronic and optoelectronic devices. To make use of these materials, for instance in field effect transistor applications, it is mandatory to know the detailed properties of contacts of such TMDs with metal electrodes. Here, we investigate the role of the contact structure on the electronic and transport properties of metal-MoSe2 interfaces. Two different contact types, namely face and edge contacts, are studied. We consider both low (Sc) and high (Au) work function metals in order to thoroughly elucidate the role of the metal work function and the type of metal. First principles plane wave calculations and transport calculations based on nonequilibrium Green's function formalism reveal that the contact type has a large impact on the electronic and transport properties of metal-MoSe2 interfaces. For the Sc electrode, the Schottky barrier heights are around 0.25 eV for face contact and bigger than 0.6 eV for edge contact. For the Au case, we calculate very similar barrier heights for both contact types with an average value of 0.5 eV. Furthermore, while the face contact is found to be highly advantageous as compared to the edge contact for the Sc electrode, the latter contact becomes a better choice for the Au electrode. Our findings provide guidelines for the fabrication of TMD-based devices.

Abstract: Carbon-based molecular semiconductors are explored for application in spintronics because their small spinorbit coupling promises long spin lifetimes. We calculate the electronic transport from first principles through spin valves comprising bi-and tri-layers of the fullerene molecules C-60 and C-70, sandwiched between two Fe electrodes. The spin polarization of the current, and the magnetoresistance depend sensitively on the interactions at the interfaces between the molecules and the metal surfaces. They are much less affected by the thickness of the molecular layers. A high current polarization (CP > 90%) and magnetoresistance (MR > 100%) at small bias can be attained using C-70 layers. In contrast, the current polarization and the magnetoresistance at small bias are vanishingly small for C-60 layers. Exploiting a generalized Julliere model we can trace the differences in spin-dependent transport between C-60 and C-70 layers to differences between the molecule-metal interface states. These states also allow one to interpret the current polarization and the magnetoresistance as a function of the applied bias voltage.

Abstract: The mechanical properties of monolayer GaS and GaSe crystals are investigated in terms of their elastic constants: in-plane stiffness (C), Poisson ratio (nu), and ultimate strength (sigma(U)) by means of first-principles calculations. The calculated elastic constants are compared with those of graphene and monolayer MoS2. Our results indicate that monolayer GaS is a stiffer material than monolayer GaSe crystals due to the more ionic character of the Ga-S bonds than the Ga-Se bonds. Although their Poisson ratio values are very close to each other, 0.26 and 0.25 for GaS and GaSe, respectively, monolayer GaS is a stronger material than monolayer GaSe due to its slightly higher sU value. However, GaS and GaSe crystals are found to be more ductile and flexible materials than graphene and MoS2. We have also analyzed the band-gap response of GaS and GaSe monolayers to biaxial tensile strain and predicted a semiconductor-metal crossover after 17% and 14% applied strain, respectively, for monolayer GaS and GaSe. In addition, we investigated how the mechanical properties are affected by charging. We found that the flexibility of single layer GaS and GaSe displays a sharp increase under 0.1e/cell charging due to the repulsive interactions between extra charges located on chalcogen atoms. These charging-controllable mechanical properties of single layers of GaS and GaSe can be of potential use for electromechanical applications.

Abstract: The effect of proximity-induced interactions such as Rashba spin-orbit coupling (SOC) and exchange interaction on the electronic and optical properties of n-type monolayer (ML) MoS2 is investigated. We predict and demonstrate that the Rashba SOC can induce an in-plane spin splitting with terahertz (THz) energy, while the exchange interaction lifts the energy degeneracy in different valleys. Thus, spin polarization can be achieved in an n-type ML MoS2 and valley Hall or optical Hall effect can be observed using linearly polarized THz radiation. In such a case, the transverse optical conductivity sigma(xy) (omega) results from spin-flip transition within spin-split conduction bands and from the fact that contributions from electrons with different spin orientations in different valleys can no longer be canceled out. Interestingly, we find that for fixed effective Zeeman field (or exchange interaction) the lowest spin-split conduction band in ML MoS2 can be tuned from one in the K valley to another one in the K' valley by varying the Rashba parameter lambda(R). Therefore, by changing lambda(R) we can turn the sign of the spin polarization and Im sigma(xy) (omega) from positive to negative. Moreover, we find that the dominant contribution of the selection rules to sigma(xx)(omega) is from electrons in the K valley and to sigma(xy) (omega) is from electrons in the K' valley. These important and interesting theoretical findings can be helpful to experimental observation of the optical Hall effect in valleytronic systems using linearly polarized THz radiation fields.

Abstract: The scattering of two-dimensional (2D) massless Dirac electrons is investigated in the presence of a random array of circular mass barriers. The inverse momentum relaxation time and the Hall factor are calculated and used to obtain parallel and perpendicular resistivity components within linear transport theory. We found a nonzero perpendicular resistivity component which has opposite sign for electrons in the different K and K′ valleys. This property can be used for valley filter purposes. The total cross section for scattering on penetrable barriers exhibits resonances due to the presence of quasibound states in the barriers that show up as sharp gaps in the cross section while for Schrödinger electrons they appear as peaks.

Abstract: We investigate mesoscopic Josephson-junction arrays created by patterning superconducting disks on monolayer graphene, concentrating on the high-T/T-c regime of these devices and the phenomena which contribute to the superconducting glass state in diffusive arrays. We observe features in the magnetoconductance at rational fractions of flux quanta per array unit cell, which we attribute to the formation of flux-quantized vortices. The applied fields at which the features occur are well described by Ginzburg-Landau simulations that take into account the number of unit cells in the array. We find that the mean conductance and universal conductance fluctuations are both enhanced below the critical temperature and field of the superconductor, with greater enhancement away from the graphene Dirac point.

Abstract: Magnetotransport in bilayer graphene in the presence of a weak and periodic potential is investigated in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field B. The modulation broadens the Landau levels into bands and for weak magnetic fields leads to the well-known Weiss oscillations in their bandwidth and their transport coefficients at very low B and to the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations at larger B. The amplitude of the Weiss oscillations is severely reduced if the periodic potentials applied to the two layers oscillate out of phase. We also contrast some results with those corresponding to single-layer graphene. Relative to them the flat-band condition and the oscillation amplitude differ substantially, due to the interlayer coupling, and agree only when this coupling is extremely weak. We further show that the Hall conductivity exhibits the well-known steps at half-integer and integer multiples of 4e(2)/h in single-layer and bilayer graphene, respectively, even for very weak magnetic fields. The results are pertinent to weak and periodic corrugations when the potential modulation dominates the strain-induced magnetic modulation.

Abstract: Water confined between two graphene layers with a separation of a few A forms a layered two-dimensional ice structure. Using large scale molecular dynamics simulations with the adoptable ReaxFF interatomic potential we found that flat monolayer ice with a rhombic-square structure nucleates between the graphene layers which is nonpolar and nonferroelectric. We provide different energetic considerations and H-bonding results that explain the interlayer and intralayer properties of two-dimensional ice. The controversial AA stacking found experimentally [Algara-Siller et al., Nature (London) 519, 443 (2015)] is consistent with our minimum-energy crystal structure of bilayer ice. Furthermore, we predict that an odd number of layers of ice has the same lattice structure as monolayer ice, while an even number of ice layers exhibits the square ice AA stacking of bilayer ice.

Abstract: The angular momentum quantization of chiral gapless modes confined to a circularly shaped interface between two different topological phases is investigated. By examining several different setups, we show analytically that the angular momentum of the topological modes exhibits a highly chiral behavior, and can be coupled to spin and/or valley degrees of freedom, reflecting the nature of the interface states. A simple general one-dimensional model, valid for arbitrarily shaped loops, is shown to predict the corresponding energies and the magnetic moments. These loops can be viewed as building blocks for artificial magnets with tunable and highly diverse properties.

Abstract: The trap-assisted tunneling (TAT) current in tunnel field-effect transistors (TFETs) is one of the crucial factors degrading the sub-60 mV/dec sub-threshold swing. To correctly predict the TAT currents, an accurate description of the trap is required. Since electric fields in TFETs typically reach beyond 10(6) V/cm, there is a need to quantify the impact of such high field on the traps. We use a quantum mechanical implementation based on the modified transfer matrix method to obtain the trap energy level. We present the qualitative impact of electric field on different trap configurations, locations, and host materials, including both semiconductors and oxides. We determine that there is an electric-field related trap level shift and level broadening. We find that these electric-field induced quantum effects can enhance the trap emission rates. Published by AIP Publishing.

Abstract: Recently, two stable allotropes (germancite and stancite) for the group IV elements (Ge and Sn) with a staggered layered dumbell structure were proposed to be three-dimensional (3D) topological Dirac semimetals [Phys. Rev. B 93, 241117 (2016)]. A pair of Dirac points is on the rotation axis away from the time-reversal invariant momentum, and the stability of the 3D bulk Dirac points is protected by the C-3 rotation symmetry. Here, we use the first principles calculations to investigate GexSny alloys which share the same rhombohedral crystal structure with the space group of D-3d(6). Six GexSny alloys are predicted to be energetically and dynamically stable, where (x, y) = (8, 6) and (6, 8) and the alpha and beta phases of (10, 4) and (4, 10). Our results demonstrate that all the six GexSny alloys are topological Dirac semimetals. The different nontrivial surface states and surface Fermi arcs are identified. Our work will substantially enrich the family of 3D Dirac semimetals which are within the reach of experimental realization. Published by AIP Publishing.