Abstract: We propose a simple way of probing the number of modes contributing to the channeling in graphene waveguides which are formed by a gauge potential produced by mechanical strain. The energy mode structure for both homogeneous and non-homogeneous strain regimes is carefully studied using the continuum description of the Dirac equation. We found that high strain values privilege negative (instead of positive) group velocities throughout the guidance, sorting the types of modes flowing through it. We also show how the effect of a substrate-induced gap competes against the strain.

Abstract: Current-voltage analysis using different optical band pass filters has been performed on Cu2ZnSnSe4 and Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)(4) thin-film solar cells. When using red or orange light (i.e. wavelengths above 600 nm), a distortion appears in the I-V curve of the Cu2ZnSnSe4 solar cell, indicating an additional potential barrier to the current flow in the device for these conditions of illumination. This barrier is reduced when using a Cu2ZnSn(S, Se)(4) absorber. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the barrier visible under red light could be explained by a positive conduction band offset at the front interface coupled with compensating defects in the buffer layer.

Abstract: The low-energy physics of silicene is described by Dirac fermions with a strong spin-orbit interaction and its band structure can be controlled by an external perpendicular electric field E-z. We investigate the commensurability oscillations in silicene modulated by a weak periodic potential V = V-0 cos(2 pi y/a(0)) with a(0) as its period, in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field B and of a weak sinusoidal electric field E-z = E-0 cos(2 pi y/b(0)), where b(0) is its period. We show that the spin and valley degeneracy of the Landau levels is lifted, due to the modulation, and that the interplay between the strong spin-orbit interaction and the potential and electric field modulations can result in spin- and valley-resolved magnetotransport. At very weak magnetic fields the commensurability oscillations induced by a weak potential modulation can exhibit a beating pattern depending on the strength of the homogenous electric field Ez but this is not the case when only Ez is modulated. The Hall conductivity plateaus acquire a step structure, due to spin and valley intra-Landau-level transitions, that is absent in unmodulated silicene. The results are critically contrasted with those for graphene and the two-dimensional electron gas.

Abstract: Electrons in double-layer semiconductor heterostructures experience a special type of spin-orbit interaction that arises in each layer from the perpendicular component of the Coulomb electric field created by electron-density fluctuations in the other layer. We show that this interaction, acting in combination with the usual spin-orbit interaction, can generate a spin current in one layer when a charge current is driven in the other. This effect is distinct symmetrywise from the spin-Hall drag. The spin current is not, in general, perpendicular to the drive current.

Abstract: Tunneling of holes through a trilayer structure made of two diluted magnetic semiconductors, (Ga,Mn)As, separated by a thin layer of nonmagnetic AlAs is investigated. The problem is treated within the 6x6 Luttinger-Kohn model for valence bands with the split-off band included. The influence of the spin-orbit coupling is pronounced as the spin-splitting Delta(ex) is comparable with the split-off Delta(SO) splitting. It is assumed that direct tunneling is the dominant mechanism due to the high quality of the tunnel junctions. Our theoretical results predict the correct order of magnitude for the tunneling magnetoresistance ratio, but various other effects, such as scattering on impurities and defects, should be included in order to realize a quantitative agreement with experiment.

Abstract: The charge density relaxation propagator of a two-dimensional electron system, which is the slope of the imaginary part of the polarization function, exhibits singularities for bosonic momenta having the order of the spin-orbit momentum and depending on the momentum orientation. We have provided an intuitive understanding for this nonanalytic behavior in terms of the interchirality subband electronic transitions, induced by the combined action of Bychkov-Rashba (BR) and Dresselhaus (D) spin-orbit coupling. It is shown that the regular behavior of the relaxation propagator is recovered in the presence of only one BR or D spin-orbit field or for spin-orbit interaction with equal BR and D coupling strengths. This creates a new possibility to influence carrier relaxation properties by means of an applied electric field.

Abstract: The interplay of massive electrons with spin-orbit coupling in bulk graphene results in a spin-valley dependent gap. Thus, a barrier with such properties can act as a filter, transmitting only opposite spins from opposite valleys. In this Letter we show that a strain induced pseudomagnetic field in such a barrier will enforce opposite cyclotron trajectories for the filtered valleys, leading to their spatial separation. Since spin is coupled to the valley in the filtered states, this also leads to spin separation, demonstrating a spin-valley filtering effect. The filtering behavior is found to be controllable by electrical gating as well as by strain.

Abstract: The instability of a free-standing one-sided hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene nanoribbon, i.e., graphone/fluorographene, is studied using ab initio, semiempirical, and large-scale molecular dynamics simulations. Free-standing semi-infinite armchairlike hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene (AC-GH/AC-GF) and boatlike hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene (B-GH/B-GF) (nanoribbons which are periodic along the zigzag direction) are unstable and spontaneously transform into spiral structures. We find that rolled, spiral B-GH and B-GF are energetically more favorable than spiral AC-GH and AC-GF which is opposite to the double-sided flat hydrogenated/fluorinated graphene, i.e., graphane/fluorographene. We found that the packed, spiral structures exhibit an unexpected localized highest occupied molecular orbital and lowest occupied molecular orbital at the edges with increasing energy gap during rolling. These rolled hydrocarbon structures are stable beyond room temperature up to at least T = 1000 K within our simulation time of 1 ns. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.87.075448

Abstract: We report measurements which indicate the appearance of spontaneous vortices in lead superconducting films with embedded magnetic nanoparticles and a temperature-induced phase transition between different vortex phases. Unlike common vortices in superconductors, the vortex phase appears in the absence of applied magnetic field. The vortices nucleate exclusively due to the stray field of the magnetic nanoparticles, which serve the dual role of providing the internal field and simultaneously acting as pinning centers. Transport measurements reveal dynamical phase transitions that depend on temperature (T) and applied field (H) and support the obtained H-T phase diagram.