Diffusion and criticality in undoped graphene with resonant scatterers

Sticking of atomic hydrogen on graphene

Recent years have witnessed an ever growing interest in the interactions between hydrogen atoms and a graphene sheet. Largely motivated by the possibility of modulating the electric, optical and magnetic properties of graphene, a huge number of studies have appeared recently that added to and enlarged earlier investigations on graphite and other carbon materials. In this review we give a glimpse of the many facets of this adsorption process, as they emerged from these studies. The focus is on those issues that have been addressed in detail, under carefully controlled conditions, with an emphasis on the interplay between the adatom structures, their formation dynamics and the electric, magnetic and chemical properties of the carbon sheet.

Lévy Flights due to Anisotropic Disorder in Graphene

We study transport properties of graphene with anisotropically distributed on-site impurities (adatoms) that are randomly placed on every third line drawn along carbon bonds. We show that stripe states characterized by strongly suppressed backscattering are formed in this model in the direction of the lines. The system reveals Lévy-flight transport in the stripe direction such that the corresponding conductivity increases as the square root of the system length. Thus, adding this type of disorder to clean graphene near the Dirac point strongly enhances the conductivity, which is in stark contrast with a fully random distribution of on-site impurities, which leads to Anderson localization. The effect is demonstrated both by numerical simulations using the Kwant code and by an analytical theory based on the self-consistent T-matrix approximation.

Critical Delocalization of Chiral Zero Energy Modes in Graphene

Graphene subjected to chiral-symmetric disorder is believed to host zero energy modes (ZEMs) resilient to localization, as suggested by the renormalization group analysis of the underlying nonlinear sigma model. We report accurate quantum transport calculations in honeycomb lattices with in excess of 10^{9} sites and fine meV resolutions. The Kubo dc conductivity of ZEMs induced by vacancy defects (chiral BDI class) is found to match 4e(2)/πh within 1% accuracy, over a parametrically wide window of energy level broadenings and vacancy concentrations. Our results disclose an unprecedentedly robust metallic regime in graphene, providing strong evidence that the early field-theoretical picture for the BDI class is valid well beyond its controlled weak-coupling regime.

Density of states in a two-dimensional chiral metal with vacancies

We study quantum interference effects in a two-dimensional chiral metal (bipartite lattice) with vacancies. We demonstrate that randomly distributed vacancies constitute a peculiar type of chiral disorder leading to strong modifications of critical properties at zero energy as compared to those of conventional chiral metals. In particular, the average density of states diverges as ρ∝E(-1)|lnE|(-3/2) and the correlation length L(c)∝√[|lnE|] in the limit E→0. When the average density of vacancies is different in the two sublattices, a finite concentration of zero modes emerges and a gap in the quasiclassical density of states opens around zero energy. Interference effects smear this gap, resulting in exponentially small tails at low energies.

Quantum Hall criticality and localization in graphene with short-range impurities at the Dirac point

We explore the longitudinal conductivity of graphene at the Dirac point in a strong magnetic field with two types of short-range scatterers: adatoms that mix the valleys and "scalar" impurities that do not mix them. A scattering theory for the Dirac equation is employed to express the conductance of a graphene sample as a function of impurity coordinates; an averaging over impurity positions is then performed numerically. The conductivity σ is equal to the ballistic value 4e2/πh for each disorder realization, provided the number of flux quanta considerably exceeds the number of impurities. For weaker fields, the conductivity in the presence of scalar impurities scales to the quantum-Hall critical point with σ≃4×0.4e2/h at half filling or to zero away from half filling due to the onset of Anderson localization. For adatoms, the localization behavior is also obtained at half filling due to splitting of the critical energy by intervalley scattering. Our results reveal a complex scaling flow governed by fixed points of different symmetry classes: remarkably, all key manifestations of Anderson localization and criticality in two dimensions are observed numerically in a single setup.

Conductivity of graphene with resonant and nonresonant adsorbates

We propose a unified description of transport in graphene with adsorbates that fully takes into account localization effects and loss of electronic coherence due to inelastic processes. We focus in particular on the role of the scattering properties of the adsorbates and analyze in detail cases with resonant or nonresonant scattering. For both models, we identify several regimes of conduction, depending on the value of the Fermi energy. Sufficiently far from the Dirac energy and at sufficiently small concentrations, the semiclassical theory can be a good approximation. Near the Dirac energy, we identify different quantum regimes, where the conductivity presents universal behaviors.

Broken symmetries, zero-energy modes, and quantum transport in disordered graphene: from supermetallic to insulating regimes

The role of defect-induced zero-energy modes on charge transport in graphene is investigated using Kubo and Landauer transport calculations. By tuning the density of random distributions of monovacancies either equally populating the two sublattices or exclusively located on a single sublattice, all conduction regimes are covered from direct tunneling through evanescent modes to mesoscopic transport in bulk disordered graphene. Depending on the transport measurement geometry, defect density, and broken sublattice symmetry, the Dirac-point conductivity is either exceptionally robust against disorder (supermetallic state) or suppressed through a gap opening or by algebraic localization of zero-energy modes, whereas weak localization and the Anderson insulating regime are obtained for higher energies. These findings clarify the contribution of zero-energy modes to transport at the Dirac point, hitherto controversial.

Enhanced screening in chemically functionalized graphene

Resonant scatterers such as hydrogen adatoms can strongly enhance the low-energy density of states in graphene. Here, we study the impact of these impurities on electronic screening. We find a two-faced behavior: Kubo formula calculations reveal an increased dielectric function ε upon creation of midgap states but no metallic divergence of the static ε at small momentum transfer q→0. This bad metal behavior manifests also in the dynamic polarization function and can be directly measured by means of electron energy loss spectroscopy. A new length scale l(c) beyond which screening is suppressed emerges, which we identify with the Anderson localization length.

Doped graphene: the interplay between localization and frustration due to the underlying triangular symmetry

An intuitive explanation of the increase in localization observed near the Dirac point in doped graphene is presented. To do this, we renormalize the tight binding Hamiltonians in such a way that the honeycomb lattice maps into a triangular one. Then, we investigate the frustration effects that emerge in this Hamiltonian. In this doped triangular lattice, the eigenstates have a bonding and antibonding contribution near the Dirac point, and thus there is a kind of Lifshitz tail. The increase in frustration is related to an increase in localization, since the number of frustrated bonds decreases with disorder, while the frustration contribution raises.

Magnetoresistance and magnetic ordering fingerprints in hydrogenated graphene

Spin-dependent features in the conductivity of graphene, chemically modified by a random distribution of hydrogen adatoms, are explored theoretically. The spin effects are taken into account using a mean-field self-consistent Hubbard model derived from first-principles calculations. A Kubo transport methodology is used to compute the spin-dependent transport fingerprints of weakly hydrogenated graphene-based systems with realistic sizes. Conductivity responses are obtained for paramagnetic, antiferromagnetic, or ferromagnetic macroscopic states, constructed from the mean-field solutions obtained for small graphene supercells. Magnetoresistance signals up to ∼7% are calculated for hydrogen densities around 0.25%. These theoretical results could serve as guidance for experimental observation of induced magnetism in graphene.

Color-dependent conductance of graphene with adatoms

We study ballistic transport properties of graphene with a low concentration of vacancies or adatoms. The conductance of graphene doped to the Dirac point is found to depend on the relative distribution of impurities among different sites of the honeycomb lattice labeled in general by six colors. The conductivity is shown to be sensitive to the crystal orientation if adatom sites have a preferred color. Our theory is confirmed by numerical simulations using recursive Green's functions with no adjustable parameters.