Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: The electron momentum density obtained from the Schwinger-like mechanism is evaluated for a graphene sample immersed in a homogeneous time-dependent electric field. Based on the analogy between graphene low-energy electrons and quantum electrodynamics (QED), numerical techniques borrowed from strong field QED are employed and compared to approximate analytical approaches. It is demonstrated that for some range of experimentally accessible parameters, the pair production proceeds by sequences of adiabatic evolutions followed by nonadiabatic Landau-Zener transitions, reminiscent of the Kibble-Zurek mechanism describing topological defect density in second order phase transitions. For some field configurations, this yields interference patterns in momentum space which are explained in terms of the adiabatic-impulse model and the Landau-Zener-St\"uckelberg interferometry.
Authors: François Fillion-Gourdeau, Denis Gagnon, Catherine Lefebvre, Steve MacLean
Language: English
Subfield: Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2466154587