Influence of the phonon-mediated spin-orbit coupling in graphene decorated with adatoms

ORAL

Abstract

Graphene covered with certain heavy adatoms has been predicted( Conan Weeks et al., Phys. Rev. X 1, 021001 (2011)) to become a topological insulator by virtue of a proximity-effect induced spin-orbit coupling. In addition, the adatoms also induce a coupling between the electron spin and the phonons. Using group theory and tight-binding models, we systematically investigate the coupling between the electron spin and in-plane lattice phonons. We discuss the consequences of this coupling for the dynamics of electrons on the graphene $\pi$ band.

*JY is supported by NSC grants 102-2917-I-007-032.

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Authors

  • Jhih-Shih You

    • Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093

  • Daw-Wei Wang

    • Physics Department and Frontier Research Center on Fundamental and Applied Sciences of Matter, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan

  • Miguel A. Cazalilla

    • Physics Department and Frontier Research Center on Fundamental and Applied Sciences of Matter, National Tsing-Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan