Year: 2013
Type: preprint
Abstract: Realization of conically linear dispersion, termed as Dirac cones, has recently opened up exciting opportunities for high-performance devices that make use of the peculiar transport properties of the massless carriers. A good example of current fashion is the heavily studied graphene, a single atomic layered graphite. It not only offers a prototype of Dirac physics in the field of condensed matter and materials science, but also provides a playground of various exotic phenomena. In the meantime, numerous routes have been attempted to search for the next "graphene". Despite these efforts, to date there is still no simple guideline to predict and engineer such massless particles in materials. Here, we propose a theoretical recipe to create Dirac cones into anyone's favorite materials. The method allows to tailor the properties, such as anisotropy and quantity, in any effective one-band two-dimensional lattice. We demonstrate the validity of our theory with two examples on the square lattice, an "unlikely" candidate hosting Dirac cones, and show that a graphene-like low-energy electronic structure can be realized. The proposed recipe can be applied in real materials via introduction of vacancy, substitution or intercalation, and also extended to photonic crystal, molecular array, and cold atoms systems.
Source: arXiv (Cornell University)
Authors: Lin, Chia-Hui, Ku, Wei
Institutions: Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1586439700