Ref HAL: hal-03824955_v1
Ref Arxiv: 2209.14001
Ref. & Cit.: NASA ADS
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Résumé:

Graphene is a quantum spin Hall insulator with a 45 $\mu$eV wide non-trivial topological gap induced by the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. Even though this zero-field spin splitting is weak, it makes graphene an attractive candidate for applications in quantum technologies, given the resulting long spin relaxation time. On the other side, the staggered sub-lattice potential, resulting from the coupling of graphene with its boron nitride substrate, compensates intrinsic spin-orbit coupling and decreases the non-trivial topological gap, which may lead to the phase transition into trivial band insulator state. In this work, we present extensive experimental studies of the zero-field splittings in monolayer and bilayer graphene in a temperature range 2K-12K by means of sub-Terahertz photoconductivity-based electron spin resonance technique. Surprisingly, we observe a decrease of the spin splittings with increasing temperature. We discuss the origin of this phenomenon by considering possible physical mechanisms likely to induce a temperature dependence of the spin-orbit coupling. These include the difference in the expansion coefficients between the graphene and the boron nitride substrate or the metal contacts, the electron-phonon interactions, and the presence of a magnetic order at low temperature. Our experimental observation expands knowledge about the non-trivial topological gap in graphene.

Commentaires: Main text with figures (18 pages) and Supplementary Information (11 pages)

Ref HAL: hal-03824953_v1
DOI: 10.1117/12.2641104
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Ref HAL: hal-03824950_v1
Ref Arxiv: 2210.02839
Ref. & Cit.: NASA ADS
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Thermoelectric readout in a graphene THz radiation detector requires a p-n junction across the graphene channel. Even without an intentional p-n junction, two latent junctions can exist in the vicinity of the electrodes/antennas through the proximity to metal. In a symmetrical structure, these junctions are connected back-to-back and therefore counterbalance each other with regard to rectification of the ac signal. Because of the Peltier effect, a small dc current results in additional heating in one- and cooling in another p-n junction, thereby breaking the symmetry. The p-n junctions then no longer cancel, resulting in a greatly enhanced rectified signal. This allows to simplify the design and effectively control the sensitivity of the THz-radiation detectors.

Ref HAL: hal-03824761_v1
DOI: 10.3390/nano12152599
WoS: WOS:000839798300001
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Heterostructures with thin Hg(Cd)Te/CdHgTe quantum wells (QWs) are attractive for the development of mid-infrared interband lasers. Of particular interest are room-temperature operating emitters for the short-wavelength infrared range (SWIR, typically defined as 1.7-3 μm). In this work, we report on the observation of stimulated emission (SE) in the 2.65-2.75 µm wavelength range at room temperature in an optically pumped HgCdTe QW laser heterostructure. We study a series of three samples with lengths ranging from 2.5 to 7 mm and discuss the effects related to the non-uniformity of the excitation beam profile. SE threshold intensity and the magnitude of pump-induced carrier heating are found to be effectively dependent on the chip size, which should be accounted for in possible designs of HgCdTe-based optical converters. We also pay attention to the problem of active medium engineering in order to push the SE wavelength towards the 3-5 µm atmospheric window and to lower the SE threshold.

Ref HAL: hal-03824753_v1
Ref Arxiv: 2110.11076
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.105.125203
WoS: WOS:000800753300003
Ref. & Cit.: NASA ADS
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Résumé:

Using an elegant model involving only Γ6c and Γ8v bands, massless Kane fermions were defined as the particles associated with the peculiar band structure of gapless HgCdTe crystals. Although their dispersion relation resembles that of a pseudo-spin-1 Dirac semimetal, these particles were originally considered to be hybrids of pseudospin-1 and -1/2 fermions. Here we unequivocally find that by considering an additional Γ7c conduction band inherent in HgCdTe crystals, the Kane fermions are ultimately two nested Dirac particles. This observation allows the direct application of Lorentz transformations to describe the relativistic behavior of these particles in crossed electric and magnetic fields. By studying the relativistic collapse of their Landau levels at different orientations between the crossed fields and the main crystallographic axes, we demonstrate that the Kane fermions strikingly decay into two independent Dirac particles with increasing of electric field. Our results provide new insight into semi-relativistic effects in narrow-gap semiconductors in crossed electric and magnetic fields.

Ref HAL: hal-03783120_v1
Ref Arxiv: 2206.14561
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.106.115203
Ref. & Cit.: NASA ADS
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Résumé:

Using the self-consistent Born approximation, we study a topological phase transition appearing in bulk HgCdTe crystals induced uncorrelated disorder due to both randomly distributed impurities and fluctuations in Cd composition. By following the density-of-states evolution, we clearly demonstrate the topological phase transition, which can be understood in terms of the disorder-renormalized mass of Kane fermions. We find that the presence of a heavy-hole band in HgCdTe crystals leads to the topological phase transition at much lower disorder strength than is expected for conventional three-dimensional topological insulators. Our theoretical results can also be applied to other narrow-gap zinc-blende semiconductors such as InAs, InSb, and their ternary alloys InAsSb.

Commentaires: 8 pages, 4 figures

Ref HAL: hal-03824995_v1
DOI: 10.1063/5.0046983
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