Breakdown of the law of reflection at a disordered graphene edge

ORAL

Abstract

The law of reflection states that smooth surfaces reflect waves specularly, thereby acting as a mirror. This law is insensitive to disorder as long as its length scale is smaller than the wavelength. Monolayer graphene exhibits a linear dispersion at low energies and consequently a diverging Fermi wavelength. We present proof that a charge-neutral disordered graphene boundary results in a diffusive electron reflection even when the electron wavelength is much longer than the disorder correlation length. Using numerical quantum transport simulations, we demonstrate that this phenomenon can be observed as a nonlocal conductance dip in a magnetic focusing experiment.

*ERC Starting Grant No. 638760, the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO/OCW), and the U.S. Office of Naval Research.

Presenters

  • Anton Akhmerov

    • Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology

Authors

  • Elias Walter

    • Faculty of Physics, LMU Munich
  • Tomas Örn Rosdahl

    • Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology
  • Anton Akhmerov

    • Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology
  • Fabian Hassler

    • JARA Institute for Quantum Information, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany
    • Institute for Quantum Information, RWTH Aachen University
    • Institute for Quantum Information, RWTH Aachen