Graphene, a monolayer of carbon atoms, is one of the most remarkable materials discovered in the last few years (this discovery has lead to the award of the Nobel prize for Physics in 2010). Being one atom thick, graphene represents the ultimate two-dimensional (2D) system. In particular, suspended graphene devices are the only existing 2D conducting membranes discovered so far, mixing their unique electronic properties with the soft-matter physics of elastic membranes. In condensed matter physics, two-dimensional systems have been shown to exhibit several fascinating electronic states. Among them, the quantum Hall effects (QHE) represent some of the most prominent examples of quantum phenomena at the macroscopic scale (the fundamental discovery of the integer and fractional quantum Hall effects lead to the Nobel prizes for physics in 1985 and 1998).
The 2D electron systems considered in the QHE community are usually built at the interfaces between semiconductors. In this theoretical project we will address the fundamental physics of QHE in elastic 2D graphene membranes, a scenario which has never been explored so far. Among the many fascinating questions arising in this unexplored field, a particular focus of the project will be on the interplay between the real magnetic fields and the fictitious gauge fields associated to elastic mechanical deformations in the graphene membranes. In parallel, the QHE in strained bilayer and multilayer graphene is expected to offer a rich scenario of emergent collective broken symmetry states.
The project will be part of the many ongoing activities of the Centre for Graphene Science in the School of Physics at Exeter.