Theoretical and experimental investigation of the metal–insulator transition in disordered anti-dot graphene

We study the transport behavior of anti-dot graphene both theoretically and experimentally, where the term ‘anti-dot’ denotes the graphene layer to be nanostructured with a periodic array of holes. It has been shown that the electronic band structure of the anti-dot graphene can be described by a 4...

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Main Authors: Ting Zhang, Haijing Zhang, Jie Pan, Ping Sheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: IOP Publishing 2022-01-01
Series:New Journal of Physics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac9f2a
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author Ting Zhang
Haijing Zhang
Jie Pan
Ping Sheng
author_facet Ting Zhang
Haijing Zhang
Jie Pan
Ping Sheng
author_sort Ting Zhang
collection DOAJ
description We study the transport behavior of anti-dot graphene both theoretically and experimentally, where the term ‘anti-dot’ denotes the graphene layer to be nanostructured with a periodic array of holes. It has been shown that the electronic band structure of the anti-dot graphene can be described by a 4 by 4 effective Hamiltonian (Pan J et al 2017 Phys. Rev. X. 7 031043) with a gap around the Dirac point, attendant with a 0 to π variation of the Berry phase as a function of energy, measured from the band edge. Based on the diagrammatic method analysis and experiments, we identify an energy-dependent metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) in this two-dimensional (2D) system at a critical Fermi energy ɛ _c , characterized by the divergence of the localization length in the Anderson localization phase to a de-localized metallic phase with diffusive transport. By measuring the conductance of square samples with varying dimension and at different Fermi energies, experiments were carried out to verify the theory predictions. While both theory and experiment indicate the existence of a 2D MIT with similar localization length divergence exponent, the values of the critical energy ɛ _c and that of the localization length do not show quantitative agreement. Given the robust agreement in the appearance of a 2D MIT, we attribute the lack of quantitative agreement to the shortcomings in the theoretical model. The difficulties in addressing such shortcomings are discussed.
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spelling doaj.art-9236cd8322f84d39becdd5446b2766ad2023-08-09T14:09:26ZengIOP PublishingNew Journal of Physics1367-26302022-01-01241111302710.1088/1367-2630/ac9f2aTheoretical and experimental investigation of the metal–insulator transition in disordered anti-dot grapheneTing Zhang0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7933-4940Haijing Zhang1https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3305-2507Jie Pan2Ping Sheng3https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9000-6366Department of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of ChinaDepartment of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of ChinaMax Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids , 01187 Dresden, GermanyDepartment of Physics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology , Clear Water Bay, Kowloon, Hong Kong, People’s Republic of ChinaWe study the transport behavior of anti-dot graphene both theoretically and experimentally, where the term ‘anti-dot’ denotes the graphene layer to be nanostructured with a periodic array of holes. It has been shown that the electronic band structure of the anti-dot graphene can be described by a 4 by 4 effective Hamiltonian (Pan J et al 2017 Phys. Rev. X. 7 031043) with a gap around the Dirac point, attendant with a 0 to π variation of the Berry phase as a function of energy, measured from the band edge. Based on the diagrammatic method analysis and experiments, we identify an energy-dependent metal-to-insulator transition (MIT) in this two-dimensional (2D) system at a critical Fermi energy ɛ _c , characterized by the divergence of the localization length in the Anderson localization phase to a de-localized metallic phase with diffusive transport. By measuring the conductance of square samples with varying dimension and at different Fermi energies, experiments were carried out to verify the theory predictions. While both theory and experiment indicate the existence of a 2D MIT with similar localization length divergence exponent, the values of the critical energy ɛ _c and that of the localization length do not show quantitative agreement. Given the robust agreement in the appearance of a 2D MIT, we attribute the lack of quantitative agreement to the shortcomings in the theoretical model. The difficulties in addressing such shortcomings are discussed.https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac9f2atwo-dimensional metal-insulator transitionanti-dot grapheneAnderson localizationdiffusive transport
spellingShingle Ting Zhang
Haijing Zhang
Jie Pan
Ping Sheng
Theoretical and experimental investigation of the metal–insulator transition in disordered anti-dot graphene
New Journal of Physics
two-dimensional metal-insulator transition
anti-dot graphene
Anderson localization
diffusive transport
title Theoretical and experimental investigation of the metal–insulator transition in disordered anti-dot graphene
title_full Theoretical and experimental investigation of the metal–insulator transition in disordered anti-dot graphene
title_fullStr Theoretical and experimental investigation of the metal–insulator transition in disordered anti-dot graphene
title_full_unstemmed Theoretical and experimental investigation of the metal–insulator transition in disordered anti-dot graphene
title_short Theoretical and experimental investigation of the metal–insulator transition in disordered anti-dot graphene
title_sort theoretical and experimental investigation of the metal insulator transition in disordered anti dot graphene
topic two-dimensional metal-insulator transition
anti-dot graphene
Anderson localization
diffusive transport
url https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/ac9f2a
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AT haijingzhang theoreticalandexperimentalinvestigationofthemetalinsulatortransitionindisorderedantidotgraphene
AT jiepan theoreticalandexperimentalinvestigationofthemetalinsulatortransitionindisorderedantidotgraphene
AT pingsheng theoreticalandexperimentalinvestigationofthemetalinsulatortransitionindisorderedantidotgraphene