Didier Mayou

Electronic Confinement and Coherence in Patterned Epitaxial Graphene

Ultrathin epitaxial graphite was grown on single-crystal silicon carbide by vacuum graphitization. The material can be patterned using standard nanolithography methods. The transport properties, which are closely related to those of carbon nanotubes, are dominated by the single epitaxial graphene layer at the silicon carbide interface and reveal the Dirac nature of the charge carriers. Patterned structures show quantum confinement of electrons and phase coherence lengths beyond 1 micrometer at 4 kelvin, with mobilities exceeding 2.5 square meters per volt-second. All-graphene electronically coherent devices and device architectures are envisaged.

Localization of dirac electrons in rotated graphene bilayers.

For Dirac electrons the Klein paradox implies that the confinement is difficult to achieve with an electrostatic potential although it can be of great importance for graphene-based devices. Here, ab initio and tight-binding approaches are combined and show that the wave function of Dirac electrons can be localized in rotated graphene bilayers due to the Moire pattern. This localization of wave function is maximum in the limit of the small rotation angle between the two layers.

The Transient Localization Scenario for Charge Transport in Crystalline Organic Materials

Charge transport in crystalline organic semiconductors is intrinsically limited by the presence of large thermal molecular motions, which are a direct consequence of the weak van der Waals inter-molecular interactions. These lead to an original regime of transport called \textit{transient localization}, sharing features of both localized and itinerant electron systems. After a brief review of experimental observations that pose a challenge to the theory, we concentrate on a commonly studied model which describes the interaction of the charge carriers with inter-molecular vibrations. We present different theoretical approaches that have been applied to the problem in the past, and then turn to more modern approaches that are able to capture the key microscopic phenomenon at the origin of the puzzling experimental observations, i.e. the quantum localization of the electronic wavefuntion at timescales shorter than the typical molecular motions. We describe in particular a relaxation time approximation which clarifies how the transient localization due to dynamical molecular motions relates to the Anderson localization realized for static disorder, and allows us to devise strategies to improve the mobility of actual compounds. The relevance of the transient localization scenario to other classes of systems is briefly discussed.

Electronic structure and hybridization effects in the compounds Al2Ru and Ga2Ru

Abstract The electronic structure of the compounds Al2Ru and Ga2Ru has been calculated self-consistently by using LMTO-ASA (Linear Muffin Tin Orbitals in the A Atomic Sphere Approximation) method. The calculation strongly indicates that a quasi-semiconductor gap at the Fermi level occurs inside the d states of Ru for both compounds. The models existing in the litterature are discussed and compared to our results and the origin of this quasi-semiconducting behaviour is found to be essentially due to effects of sp (Al,Ga) - d (Ru) hybridization.

Coherent electronic transport through graphene constrictions: subwavelength regime and optical analogy.

Nanoelectronic devices smaller than the electron wavelength can be achieved in graphene with current lithography techniques. Here we show that the electronic quantum transport of graphene subwavelength nanodevices presents deep analogies with subwavelength optics. We introduce the concept of electronic diffraction barrier to represent the effect of constrictions and the rich transport phenomena of a variety of nanodevices. Results are presented for Bethe and Kirchhoff diffraction in graphene slits and Fabry-Perot interference oscillations in nanoribbons. The same concept applies to graphene quantum dots and gives new insight into recent experiments in these systems.

Electronic transport properties of quasicrystals

We present a review of some results concerning electronic transport properties of quasicrystals. After a short introduction to the basic concepts of quasiperiodicity, we consider the experimental transport properties of electrical conductivity with particular focus on the effect of temperature, magnetic field, and defects. Then, we present some heuristic approaches that tend to give a coherent view of different, and to some extent complementary, transport mechanisms in quasicrystals. Numerical results are also presented and in particular the evaluation of the linear response Kubo–Greenwood formula of conductivity in quasiperiodic systems in the presence of disorder.

Numerical studies of confined states in rotated bilayers of graphene

Rotated graphene multilayers form a new class of graphene-related systems with electronic properties that drastically depend on the rotation angles. It has been shown that bilayers behave like two isolated graphene planes for large rotation angles. For smaller angles, states in the Dirac cones belonging to the two layers interact resulting in the appearance of two Van Hove singularities. States become localized as the rotation angle decreases and the two Van Hove singularities merge into one peak at the Dirac energy. Here we go further and consider bilayers with very small rotation angles. In this case, well-defined regions of AA stacking exist in the bilayer supercell and we show that states are confined in these regions for energies in the [

Quantum dynamics in two- and three-dimensional quasiperiodic tilings

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Electronic conduction in multi-walled carbon nanotubes: role of intershell coupling and incommensurability

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Electronic Structure of Transition Atoms in Quasi-Crystals and Hume-Rothery Alloys

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