KTH/Nordita/SU seminar in Theoretical Physics

Graphene domain walls as quantum wires

by Gordon W. Semenoff (UBC, Vancouver)

Europe/Stockholm
FD41

FD41

Description
Only four years after it first became readily available in the laboratory, graphene, a one-atom thick layer of carbon atoms, has captured the attention of a wide spectrum of scientists, from particle physicists interested in testing otherwise experimentally inaccessible quantum field theoretical phenomena to materials scientists and technologists searching for the next generation replacement of silicon in field effect electronic devices. This seminar will review the basics of graphene and it will discuss the most recent activity which seeks to create a mass gap in the electron spectrum. It will be agrued that, in the context of one current proposal, topological domain walls are a common occurrence. Further, the domain walls behave like one-dimensional conductors embedded in an insulating gapped graphene environment and could themselves have technological applications.