Welcome to the new version of CaltechAUTHORS. Login is currently restricted to library staff. If you notice any issues, please email coda@library.caltech.edu
Published January 15, 2013 | Accepted Version + Published
Journal Article Open

Realization of a vortex in the Kekule texture of molecular Graphene, at a Y junction where 3 domains meet

Abstract

Following the recent realization of an artificial version of Graphene in the electronic surface states of copper with judiciously placed carbon monoxide molecules inducing the honeycomb lattice symmetry (K. K. Gomes et al., Nature 483, 306 (2012)), we demonstrate that these can be used to realize a vortex in a Kekule texture of the honeycomb lattice. The Kekule texture is mathematically analogous to a superconducting order parameter, opening a spectral gap in the massless Dirac point spectrum of the Graphene structure. The core of a vortex in the texture order parameter, supports subgap states, which for this system are analogs of Majorana fermions in some superconducting states. In particular, the electron charge bound to a single vortex core is effectively fractionalized to a charge of e/2. The Kekule texture as realized in the molecular Graphene system realizes 3 different domain types, and we show that a Y-junction between them realizes the coveted Kekule vortex.

Additional Information

© 2013 American Physical Society. Received 5 July 2012; published 22 January 2013. D.L.B. was supported by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation and acknowledges the hospitality of the Freiburg Institute of Advanced Studies (FRIAS), where this work was conceived and carried out. Finally, we wish to thank Hari Manoharan for readily discussing his experiments.

Attached Files

Published - PhysRevB.87.035422.pdf

Accepted Version - 1205.4731v3.pdf

Files

PhysRevB.87.035422.pdf
Files (652.4 kB)
Name Size Download all
md5:acb359a2e70599c13e8fa5e7098688c9
426.6 kB Preview Download
md5:baa2dbfacc7520b9df3fa31ecb8c942d
225.7 kB Preview Download

Additional details

Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 20, 2023