Phonon-Mediated Tunneling into Graphene

T. O. Wehling, I. Grigorenko, A. I. Lichtenstein, and A. V. Balatsky
Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 216803 – Published 20 November 2008

Abstract

Recent scanning tunneling spectroscopy experiments on graphene reported an unexpected gap of about ±60meV around the Fermi level [V. W. Brar et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 122102 (2007); Y. Zhang et al., Nature Phys. 4, 627 (2008)]. Here we give a theoretical investigation explaining the experimentally observed spectra and confirming the phonon-mediated tunneling as the reason for the gap: We study the real space properties of the wave functions involved in the tunneling process by means of ab initio theory and present a model for the electron-phonon interaction, which couples the graphene’s Dirac electrons with quasifree-electron states at the Brillouin zone center. The self-energy associated with this electron-phonon interaction is calculated, and its effects on tunneling into graphene are discussed. Good agreement of the tunneling density of states within our model and the experimental dI/dU spectra is found.

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  • Received 7 April 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.101.216803

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

T. O. Wehling1, I. Grigorenko2, A. I. Lichtenstein1, and A. V. Balatsky2,3,*

  • 1I. Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Hamburg, Jungiusstraße 9, D-20355 Hamburg, Germany
  • 2Theoretical Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 3Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA

  • *avb@lanl.gov; http://theory.lanl.gov

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Issue

Vol. 101, Iss. 21 — 21 November 2008

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