2023/11/29 by Santiago Galván y García, García, Santiago Galván y, Yonatan Betancur-Ocampo +5 · 1 citation
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Graphene research and applications #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall) #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Surface and Thin Film Phenomena
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2311.17880
openalex publication_date 2023/11/29 · openalex created_date 2023/12/01 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We demonstrate that the current flow in graphene can be guided on atomically thin current pathways by means of the engineering of Kekulé-O distortions. A grain boundary in these distortions separates the system into topological distinct regions and induces a ballistic domain-wall state. The state does not depend on the precise orientation of the grain boundary with respect to the graphene sublattice and therefore, permits to guide the current on arbitrary paths through the system. As the state is gapped, the current flow can be switched by electrostatic gates. Our findings can be explained by a generalization of the Jackiw-Rebbi model, where the electrons behave in one region of the system as fermions with an effective complex mass, making the device not only promising for technological applications but also a test-ground for concepts from high-energy physics. An atomic model supported by DFT calculations demonstrates that the proposed system can be realized by decorating graphene with Ti atoms.