Abstract: Magnetic skyrmions are topologically stable nanoscale particlelike objects that were discovered in 2009. Since that time, intense research interest in the field has led to the identification of numerous compounds that support skyrmions over a range of conditions spanning from cryogenic to room temperatures. Skyrmions can be set into motion under various types of driving, and the combination of their size, stability, and dynamics makes them ideal candidates for numerous applications. At the same time, skyrmions represent a new class of system in which the energy scales of the skyrmion-skyrmion interactions, sample disorder, temperature, and drive can compete. A growing body of work indicates that the static and dynamic states of skyrmions can be influenced strongly by pinning or disorder in the sample; thus, an understanding of such effects is essential for the eventual use of skyrmions in applications. The current state of knowledge regarding individual skyrmions and skyrmion assemblies interacting with quenched disorder or pinning is reviewed. The microscopic mechanisms for skyrmion pinning, including the repulsive and attractive interactions that can arise from impurities, grain boundaries, or nanostructures, are outlined. This is followed by descriptions of depinning phenomena, sliding states over disorder, the effect of pinning on the skyrmion Hall angle, the competition between thermal and pinning effects, the control of skyrmion motion using ordered potential landscapes such as one-or two-dimensional periodic asymmetric substrates, the creation of skyrmion diodes, and skyrmion ratchet effects. Highlighted are the distinctions arising from internal modes and the strong gyrotropic or Magnus forces that cause the dynamical states of skyrmions to differ from those of other systems with pinning, such as vortices in type-II superconductors, charge density waves, or colloidal particles. Throughout this review future directions and open questions related to the and in are also discussed.

Abstract: We study the electronic properties of commensurate faulted bilayer graphene by diagonalizing the one-particle Hamiltonian of the bilayer system in a complete basis of Bloch states of the individual graphene layers. Our novel approach is very general and can be easily extended to any commensurate graphene-based heterostructure. Here, we consider three cases: (i) twisted bilayer graphene, (ii) bilayer graphene where triaxial stress is applied to one layer and (iii) bilayer graphene where uniaxial stress is applied to one layer. We show that the resulting superstructures can be divided into distinct classes, depending on the twist angle or the magnitude of the induced strain. The different classes are distinguished from each other by the interlayer coupling mechanism, resulting in fundamentally different low-energy physics. For the cases of triaxial and uniaxial stress, the individual graphene layers tend to decouple and we find significant charge transfer between the layers. In addition, this piezoelectric effect can be tuned by applying a perpendicular electric field. Finally, we show how our approach can be generalized to multilayer systems.

Abstract: Optical and electronic properties of black phosphorus strongly depend on the number of layers and type of stacking. Using first-principles calculations within the framework of density functional theory, we investigate the electronic properties of bilayer black phosphorus with an interlayer twist angle of 90 degrees. These calculations are complemented with a simple (k) over right arrow . (p) over right arrow model which is able to capture most of the low energy features and is valid for arbitrary twist angles. The electronic spectrum of 90 degrees twisted bilayer black phosphorus is found to be x-y isotropic in contrast to the monolayer. However x-y anisotropy, and a partial return to monolayer-like behavior, particularly in the valence band, can be induced by an external out-of-plane electric field. Moreover, the preferred hole effective mass can be rotated by 90 degrees simply by changing the direction of the applied electric field. In particular, a +0.4 (-0.4) V angstrom(1) out-of-plane electric field results in a similar to 60% increase in the hole effective mass along the y (x) axis and enhances the m(y)*/m(x)* (m(x)*/m(y)*) ratio as much as by a factor of 40. Our DFT and (k) over right arrow . (p) over right arrow simulations clearly indicate that the twist angle in combination with an appropriate gate voltage is a novel way to tune the electronic and optical properties of bilayer phosphorus and it gives us a new degree of freedom to engineer the properties of black phosphorus based devices.

Abstract: Among the large variety of two-dimensional (2D) materials discovered to date, elemental monolayers that host superconductivity are very rare. Using ab initio calculations we show that recently synthesized gallium monolayers, coined gallenene, are intrinsically superconducting through electron-phonon coupling. We reveal that Ga-100 gallenene, a planar monolayer isostructural with graphene, is the structurally simplest 2D superconductor to date, furthermore hosting topological edge states due to its honeycomb structure. Our anisotropic Eliashberg calculations show distinctly three-gap superconductivity in Ga-100, in contrast to the alternative buckled Ga-010 gallenene which presents a single anisotropic superconducting gap. Strikingly, the critical temperature (T ( c )) of gallenene is in the range of 7-10 K, exceeding the T ( c ) of bulk gallium from which it is exfoliated. Finally we explore chemical functionalization of gallenene with hydrogen, and report induced multigap superconductivity with an enhanced T ( c ) in the resulting gallenane compound.

Abstract: Two-dimensional group-V elemental materials have attracted widespread attention due to their nonzero band gap while displaying high electron mobility. Using first-principles calculations, we propose a series of new elemental bilayers with group-V elements (Bi, Sb, As). Our study reveals the dynamical stability of four-, six-, and eight-atom ring structures, demonstrating their possible coexistence in such bilayer systems. The proposed structures for Sb and As are large-gap semiconductors that are potentially interesting for applications in future nanodevices. The Bi structures have nontrivial topological properties with a direct nontrivial band gap. The nontrivial gap is shown to arise from a band inversion at the Brillouin zone center due to the strong intrinsic spin-orbit coupling in Bi atoms. Moreover, we demonstrate the possibility of tuning the properties of these materials by enhancing the ratio of six-atom rings to four-and eight-atom rings, which results in wider nontrivial band gaps and lower formation energies.

Abstract: The electronic and structural properties of excitons and trions in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides are investigated using both a multiband and a single- band model. In the multiband model we construct the excitonic Hamiltonian in the product base of the single-particle states at the conduction and valence band edges. We decouple the corresponding energy eigenvalue equation and solve the resulting differential equation self-consistently, using the finite element method (FEM), to determine the energy eigenvalues and the wave functions. As a comparison, we also consider the simple single-band model which is often used in numerical studies. We solve the energy eigenvalue equation using the FEM as well as with the stochastic variational method (SVM) in which a variational wave function is expanded in a basis of a large number of correlated Gaussians. We find good agreement between the results of both methods, as well as with other theoretical works for excitons, and we also compare with available experimental data. For trions the agreement between both methods is not as good due to our neglect of angular correlations when using the FEM. Finally, when comparing the two models, we see that the presence of the valence bands in the mutiband model leads to differences with the single- band model when (interband) interactions are strong.

Abstract: The size and lattice constant evolution of Pb nanoparticles (NPs) synthesized by high fluence implantation in crystalline Si have been studied with a variety of experimental techniques. Results obtained from small-angle x-ray scattering showed that the Pb NPs grow with increasing implantation fluence and annealing duration. The theory of NP growth kinetics can be applied to qualitatively explain the size evolution of the Pb NPs during the implantation and annealing processes. Moreover, the lattice constant of the Pb NPs was evaluated by conventional x-ray diffraction. The lattice dilatation was observed to decrease with increasing size of the Pb NPs. Such lattice constant tuning can be attributed to the pseudomorphism caused by the lattice mismatch between the Pb NPs and the Si matrix.

Abstract: Structural and electronic properties of silicon and germanium monolayers with two different diamondoid crystal structures are detailed ab initio. Our results show that, despite Si and Ge being well-known indirect gap semiconductors in their bulk form, their adamantane and diamantane monolayers can exhibit optically active direct gap in the visible frequency range, with highly anisotropic effective masses, depending on the monolayer crystal structure. Moreover, we reveal that gaps in these materials are highly tunable with applied strain. These stable monolayer forms of Si and Ge are therefore expected to help bridging the gap between the fast growing area of opto-electronics in two-dimensional materials and the established silicon-based technologies.

Abstract: The lowest energy electronic states of a donor located near a semiconductor-insulator-metal interface are investigated within the effective mass approach. The effect of the finite thickness of the insulator between the semiconductor and the metallic gate on the energy levels is studied. The lowest energy states are obtained through a variational approach, which takes into account the influence of all image charges that arise due to the presence of the metallic and the dielectric interfaces. We compare our results with a numerical exact calculation using the finite element technique.

Abstract: We study transport properties of a MoS2 monolayer in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field B. We derive and discuss its band structure and take into account spin and valley Zeeman effects. Compared to a conventional two-dimensional electron gas, these effects lead to new quantum Hall plateaus and new peaks in the longitudinal resistivity as functions of the magnetic field. The field B leads to a significant enhancement of the spin splitting in the conduction band, to a beating of the Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations in the low-field regime, and to their splitting in the high-field regime. The Zeeman fields suppress significantly the beating of the SdH oscillations in the low-field regime and strongly enhance their splitting at high fields. The spin and valley polarizations show a similar beating pattern at low fields and are clearly separated at high fields in which they attain a value higher than 90%.