Abstract: We investigated the valley Zeeman splitting of excitonic peaks in the microphotoluminescence (mu PL) spectra of high-quality hBN/WS2/MoSe2/hBN heterostructures under perpendicular magnetic fields up to 20 T. We identify two neutral exciton peaks in the mu PL spectra; the lower-energy peak exhibits a reduced g-factor relative to that of the higher energy peak and much lower than the recently reported values for interlayer excitons in other van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures. We provide evidence that such a discernible g-factor stems from the spatial confinement of the exciton in the potential landscape created by the moire pattern due to lattice mismatch or interlayer twist in heterobilayers. This renders magneto-mu PL an important tool to reach a deeper understanding of the effect of moire patterns on excitonic confinement in vdW heterostructures.

Abstract: The interaction of monolayer graphene with specific substrates may break its sublattice symmetry and results in unidirectional chiral states with opposite group velocities in the different Dirac cones (Zarenia et al 2012 Phys. Rev. B 86 085451). Taking advantage of this feature, we propose a valley filter based on a transversal mass kink for low energy electrons in graphene, which is obtained by assuming a defect region in the substrate that provides a change in the sign of the substrate-induced mass and thus creates a non-biased channel, perpendicular to the kink, for electron motion. By solving the time-dependent Schrodinger equation for the tight-binding Hamiltonian, we investigate the time evolution of a Gaussian wave packet propagating through such a system and obtain the transport properties of this graphene-based substrate-induced quantum point contact. Our results demonstrate that efficient valley filtering can be obtained, provided: (i) the electron energy is sufficiently low, i.e. with electrons belonging mostly to the lowest sub-band of the channel, and (ii) the channel length (width) is sufficiently long (narrow). Moreover, even though the transmission probabilities for each valley are significantly affected by impurities and defects in the channel region, the valley polarization in this system is shown to be robust against their presence.

Abstract: External fields are a powerful tool to probe optical excitations in a material. The linear energy shift of an excitation in a magnetic field is quantified by its effective g factor. Here we show how exciton g factors and their sign can be determined by converged first-principles calculations. We apply the method to monolayer excitons in semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides and to interlayer excitons in MoSe2/WSe2 heterobilayers and obtain good agreement with recent experimental data. The precision of our method allows us to assign measured g factors of optical peaks to specific transitions in the band structure and also to specific regions of the samples. This revealed the nature of various, previously measured interlayer exciton peaks. We further show that, due to specific optical selection rules, g factors in van der Waals heterostructures are strongly spin and stacking-dependent. The calculation of orbital angular momenta requires the summation over hundreds of bands, indicating that for the considered two-dimensional materials the basis set size is a critical numerical issue. The presented approach can potentially be applied to a wide variety of semiconductors.

Abstract: The Dirac equation is solved for triangular and hexagonal graphene quantum dots for different boundary conditions in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. We analyze the influence of the dot size and its geometry on their energy spectrum. A comparison between the results obtained for graphene dots with zigzag and armchair edges, as well as for infinite-mass boundary condition, is presented and our results show that the type of graphene dot edge and the choice of the appropriate boundary conditions have a very important influence on the energy spectrum. The single-particle energy levels are calculated as a function of an external perpendicular magnetic field that lifts degeneracies. Comparing the energy spectra obtained from the tight-binding approximation to those obtained from the continuum Dirac equation approach, we verify that the behavior of the energies as a function of the dot size or the applied magnetic field are qualitatively similar, but in some cases quantitative differences can exist.

Abstract: We review the transmission properties of carriers interacting with potential barriers in graphene. The tunneling of electrons and holes in quantum structures in graphene is found to display features that are in marked contrast with those of other systems. In particular, the interaction between the carriers with electrostatic potential barriers can be related to the propagation of electromagnetic waves in media with negative refraction indices, also known as metamaterials. This behavior becomes evident as one calculates the time evolution of wavepackets propagating across the barrier interface. In addition, we discuss the effect of trigonal warping on the tunneling through potential barriers.

Abstract: We investigate the formation of quantum confined structures on the surface of a liquid helium film suspended on a nanostructured substrate. We show theoretically that, by nanostructuring the substrate, it is possible to change the geometry of the liquid helium surface, opening the possibility of designing and controlling the formation of valleys with different shapes. By applying an external electric field perpendicular to the substrate plane, surface electrons can be trapped into these valleys, as in a quantum dot. We investigate how the external parameters, such as the electric field strength and the height of the liquid helium bath, can be tuned to control the energy spectrum of the trapped surface electrons.

Abstract: Within a minimal model, we present analytical expressions for the eigenstates and eigenvalues of carriers confined in quantum rings in monolayer and bilayer graphene. The calculations were performed in the context of the continuum model by solving the Dirac equation for a zero width ring geometry, i.e., by freezing out the carrier radial motion. We include the effect of an external magnetic field and show the appearance of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations and of a nonzero gap in the spectrum. Our minimal model gives insight on the energy spectrum of graphene-based quantum rings and models different aspects of finite width rings.

Abstract: We performed a numerical simulation of the dynamics of a Gaussian shaped wavepacket inside a small sized quantum ring, smoothly connected to two leads and exposed to a perturbing potential of a biased atomic force microscope tip. Using the Landauer formalism, we calculated conductance maps of this system in the case of single and two subband transport. We explain the main features in the conductance maps as due to the AFM tip influence on the wavepacket phase and amplitude. In the presence of an external magnetic field, the tip modifies the phi(0) periodic Aharonov-Bohm oscillation pattern into a phi(0)/2 periodic Al'tshuler-Aronov-Spivak oscillation pattern. Our results in the case of multiband transport suggest tip selectivity to higher subbands, making them more observable in the total

Abstract: Scanning Hall probe microscopy (SHPM) has been used to study vortex structures in thin epitaxial films of the superconductor MgB2. Unusual vortex patterns observed in MgB2 single crystals have previously been attributed to a competition between short-range repulsive and long-range attractive vortex-vortex interactions in this two band superconductor; the type 1.5 superconductivity scenario. Our films have much higher levels of disorder than bulk single crystals and therefore both superconducting condensates are expected to be pushed deep into the type 2 regime with purely repulsive vortex interactions. We observe broken symmetry vortex patterns at low fields in all samples after field-cooling from above T-c. These are consistent with those seen in systems with competing repulsions on disparate length scales, and remarkably similar structures are reproduced in dirty two band Ginzburg-Landau calculations, where the simulation parameters have been defined by experimental observations. This suggests that in our dirty MgB2 films, the symmetry of the vortex structures is broken by the presence of vortex repulsions with two different lengthscales, originating from the two distinct superconducting condensates. This represents an entirely new mechanism for spontaneous symmetry breaking in systems of superconducting vortices, with important implications for pinning phenomena and high current density applications.

Abstract: Mechanical deformations and ensuing strain are routinely exploited to tune the band gap energy and to enhance the functionalities of two-dimensional crystals. In this Letter, we show that strain leads also to a strong modification of the exciton magnetic moment in WS2 monolayers. Zeeman-splitting measurements under magnetic fields up to 28.5 T were performed on single, one-layer-thick WS2 microbubbles. The strain of the bubbles causes a hybridization of k-space direct and indirect excitons resulting in a sizable decrease in the modulus of they factor of the ground-state exciton. These findings indicate that strain may have major effects on the way the valley number of excitons can be used to process binary information in two-dimensional crystals.

Abstract: A pseudomagnetic field kink can be realized along a graphene nanoribbon using strain engineering. Electron transport along this kink is governed by snake states that are characterized by a single propagation direction. Those pseudomagnetic fields point towards opposite directions in the K and K' valleys, leading to valley polarized snake states. In a graphene nanoribbon with armchair edges this effect results in a valley filter that is based only on strain engineering. We discuss how to maximize this valley filtering by adjusting the parameters that define the stress distribution along the graphene ribbon.

Abstract: The phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation is typically limited to extremely low temperatures. The effect has now been spotted at much higher temperatures for particles called excitons in atomically thin semiconductors.

Abstract: The Stark effect is one of the most efficient mechanisms to manipulate many-body states in nanostructured systems. In mono- and few-layer transition metal dichalcogenides, it has been successfully induced by optical and electric field means. Here, we tune the optical emission energies and dissociate excitonic states in MoSe2 monolayers employing the 220 MHz in-plane piezoelectric field carried by surface acoustic waves. We transfer the monolayers to high dielectric constant piezoelectric substrates, where the neutral exciton binding energy is reduced, allowing us to efficiently quench (above 90%) and red-shift the excitonic optical emissions. A model for the acoustically induced Stark effect yields neutral exciton and trion in-plane polarizabilities of 530 and 630 x 10(-5) meV/(kV/cm)(2), respectively, which are considerably larger than those reported for monolayers encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride. Large in-plane polarizabilities are an attractive ingredient to manipulate and modulate multiexciton interactions in two-dimensional semiconductor nanostructures for optoelectronic applications.

Abstract: We numerically study the vortex-vortex interaction in multicomponent homogeneous Bose-Einstein condensates within the realm of the Gross-Pitaevskii theory. We provide strong evidence that pairwise vortex interaction captures the underlying mechanisms which determine the geometric configuration of the vortices, such as different lattices in many-vortex states, as well as the bound vortex states with two (dimer) or three (trimer) vortices. Specifically, we discuss and apply our theoretical approach to investigate intra- and intercomponent vortex-vortex interactions in two- and three-component Bose-Einstein condensates, thereby shedding light on the formation of the exotic vortex configurations. These results correlate with current experimental efforts in multicomponent Bose-Einstein condensates and the understanding of the role of vortex interactions in multiband superconductors.

Abstract: Propagation of an electron wave packet through a quantum point contact (QPC) defined by electrostatic gates in bilayer graphene is investigated. The gates provide a bias between the layers, in order to produce an energy gap. If the gates on both sides of the contact produce the same bias, steps in the electron transmission probability are observed, as in the usual QPC. However, if the bias is inverted on one of the sides of the QPC, only electrons belonging to one of the Dirac valleys are allowed to pass, which provides a very efficient valley filtering.