Substantially Enhancing Quantum Coherence of Electrons in Graphene via Electron-Plasmon Coupling

Guanghui Cheng, Wei Qin, Meng-Hsien Lin, Laiming Wei, Xiaodong Fan, Huayang Zhang, Shangjr Gwo, Changgan Zeng, J. G. Hou, and Zhenyu Zhang
Phys. Rev. Lett. 119, 156803 – Published 13 October 2017
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Abstract

The interplays between different quasiparticles in solids lay the foundation for a wide spectrum of intriguing quantum effects, yet how the collective plasmon excitations affect the quantum transport of electrons remains largely unexplored. Here we provide the first demonstration that when the electron-plasmon coupling is introduced, the quantum coherence of electrons in graphene is substantially enhanced with the quantum coherence length almost tripled. We further develop a microscopic model to interpret the striking observations, emphasizing the vital role of the graphene plasmons in suppressing electron-electron dephasing. The novel and transformative concept of plasmon-enhanced quantum coherence sheds new insight into interquasiparticle interactions, and further extends a new dimension to exploit nontrivial quantum phenomena and devices in solid systems.

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  • Received 11 April 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.156803

© 2017 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Condensed Matter, Materials & Applied Physics

Authors & Affiliations

Guanghui Cheng1,2, Wei Qin1, Meng-Hsien Lin3, Laiming Wei1,2,†, Xiaodong Fan1,2, Huayang Zhang1,2, Shangjr Gwo3,4, Changgan Zeng1,2,*, J. G. Hou1, and Zhenyu Zhang1

  • 1International Center for Quantum Design of Functional Materials (ICQD), Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, and Synergetic Innovation Center of Quantum Information and Quantum Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
  • 2CAS Key Laboratory of Strongly-Coupled Quantum Matter Physics, and Department of Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
  • 3Department of Physics, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu 30013, Taiwan
  • 4National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu 30076, Taiwan

  • *Corresponding author. cgzeng@ustc.edu.cn
  • Corresponding author. laiming@ustc.edu.cn

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Issue

Vol. 119, Iss. 15 — 13 October 2017

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