The electrical characteristics of a carbon nanotube can be significantly modified by applying elastic strain. This study focuses on exploring this phenomenon in a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) using tight-binding transport calculations. The results indicate that, under specific strains, an armchair SWNT can act as a filter, separating the two valley electrons K and K′. Notably, when subjected to deformation, the SWNT exhibits intriguing behaviors, including a quantized conductance profile that varies with the strength of the strain. Consequently, precise control of the width of the quantized plateaus allows for the generation of a polarized valley current. Furthermore, when both K-types are conducted, the strain is demonstrated to completely separate them, directing each K-type through a distinct pathway.

We investigate the spin torque in the topological phase of the 3Q antiferromagnetic (AFM) configuration. We first obtain the band structure to identify the topology and nature of the different gaps of the system and then calculate the spin density in the whole system. We demonstrate the presence of a non-vanishing spin-torque component at the edge of the system and analyze its effect on the texture. Moreover, we show that the direction of the torque depends hugely on the way we cut the system to define the edge.

The extremely high pseudo-magnetic field emerging in strained graphene suggests that an oscillating nano-deformation will induce a very high current even without electric bias. In this paper, we demonstrate the sub-terahertz (THz) dynamics of a valley-current and the corresponding charge pumping with a periodically excited nano-bubble. We discuss the amplitude of the pseudo-electric field and investigate the dependence of the pumped valley current on the different parameters of the system. Finally, we report the signature of extra-harmonics generation in the valley current that might lead to potential modern devices development operating in the nonlinear regime

Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM) has been employed to probe charge carriers in a graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) heterostructure [Nano Lett, 21, 5013 (2021)]. We propose an approach for operating valley filtering based on the KPFM-induced potential $U_0$ instead of using external or induced pseudo-magnetic fields in strained graphene. Employing a tight-binding model, we investigate the parameters and rules leading to valley filtering in the presence of a graphene quantum dot (GQD) created by the KPFM tip. This model leads to a resolution of different transport channels in reciprocal space, where the electron transmission probability at each Dirac cone ($K_1$= -K and $K_2$ = +K) is evaluated separately. The results show that U0 and the Fermi energy $E_F$ control (or invert) the valley polarization, if electrons are allowed to flow through a given valley. The resulting valley filtering is allowed only if the signs of $E_F$ and $U_0$ are the same. If they are different, the valley filtering is destroyed and might occur only at some resonant states affected by $U_0$. Additionally, there are independent valley modes characterizing the conductance oscillations near the vicinity of the resonances, whose strength increases with $U_0$ and are similar to those occurring in resonant tunneling in quantum antidots and to the Fabry-Perot oscillations. Using KPFM, to probe the charge carriers, and graphene-based structures to control valley transport, provides an efficient way for attaining valley filtering without involving external or pseudo-magnetic fields as in previous proposals.

Motivated by the ever-improving performance of deep learning techniques, we design a mixed input convolutional neural network approach to predict transport properties in deformed nanoscale materials using a height map of deformations, as can be obtained from scanning probe measurements, as input. We employ our approach to study electrical transport in a graphene nanoribbon deformed by a number of randomly positioned nanobubbles. Our network is able to make conductance predictions valid to an average error of 4.3%. We find that such low average errors are achieved by a redundant input of energy values, yielding predictions that are 30%-40% more accurate than conventional architectures. We demonstrate that the same method can learn to predict the valley-resolved conductance, with success specifically in identifying the energy at which intervalley scattering becomes prominent. We demonstrate the robustness of the approach by testing the pretrained network on samples with deformations differing in number and shape from the training data. We furthermore employ a graph theoretical analysis of the structure and outputs of the network and conclude that a tight-binding Hamiltonian can be effectively encoded in the first layer of the network, which is supported by numerical findings. Our approach contributes a theoretical understanding and a refined methodology to the application of deep learning for the determination of transport properties based on real-space disorder information.

Motivated by the exciting prediction of multi‐Weyl topological semimetals stabilized by point group symmetries, tunneling in anisotropic multi‐Weyl semimetals is studied. It is found that distant detectors for different ranges of an anisotropy parameter λ and incident angle θ will measure different numbers of propagating transmitted modes. These findings are presented as phase diagrams that are valid for incoming waves with fixed wavenumber k . Energy is not held fixed for incoming waves but allowed to vary with choice of incident angle and wavenumber k . To gain a deeper understanding of this phenomenon they focus on the simplest case of anisotropic quadratic Weyl‐semimetals and tunneling coefficients are analyzed analytically and numerically to confirm observations extracted from phase diagrams. Results show nonanalytical behavior, which is the hallmark of phase transitions. This serves as motivation to make a formal analogy with phase transitions known from statistical mechanics. Specifically, they argued that the long distance limit in the tunneling problem mimics the thermodynamic limit in statistical mechanics. A direct formal connection is found to the recently developed formalism of dynamical phase transitions. They propose that usage of this analogy with dynamical phase transitions can be fruitful in classifying transport properties of exotic semimetals.

The long fascination that antiferromagnetic materials has exerted on the scientific community over about a century has been entirely renewed recently with the discovery of several unexpected phenomena, including various classes of anomalous spin and charge Hall effects and unconventional magnonic transport, and also homochiral magnetic entities such as skyrmions. With these breakthroughs, antiferromagnets stand out as a rich playground for the investigation of novel topological behavior, and as promising candidate materials for disruptive low-power microelectronic applications. Remarkably, the newly discovered phenomena are all related to the topology of the magnetic, electronic or magnonic ground state of the antiferromagnets. This review exposes how non-trivial topology emerges at different levels in antiferromagnets and explores the novel mechanisms that have been discovered recently. We also discuss how novel classes of quantum magnets could enrich the currently expanding field of antiferromagnetic spintronics and how spin transport can in turn favor a better understanding of exotic quantum excitations.

Graphene is a type of 2D material with unique properties and promising applications. Fracture toughness and the tensile strength of a material with cracks are the most important parameters, as micro-cracks are inevitable in the real world. In this paper, we investigated the mechanical properties of triangular-cracked single-layer graphene via molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The effect of the crack angle, size, temperature, and strain rate on the Young’s modulus, tensile strength, fracture toughness, and fracture strain were examined. We demonstrated that the most vulnerable triangle crack front angle is about 60°. A monitored increase in the crack angle under constant simulation conditions resulted in an enhancement of the mechanical properties. Minor effects on the mechanical properties were obtained under a constant crack shape, constant crack size, and various system sizes. Moreover, the linear elastic characteristics, including fracture toughness, were found to be remarkably influenced by the strain rate variations.

We propose an innovative quantum emulator based on Moire superlattices showing that, by employing periodical modulation on each lattice site, one can create tunable, artificial gauge fields with imprinting Peierls phases on the hopping parameters and realize an analog of novel Haldane-like phase. As an application, we provide a methodology to directly quantify the topological invariant in such a system from a dynamical quench process. This design shows a robustly integrated platform which opens a new door to investigate topological physics.

We consider current-driven motion of magnetic skyrmions in granular magnetic films. The study uses micromagnetic modeling and phenomenological analysis based on the Thiele formalism. Remarkably, disorder enhances the effective skyrmion Hall effect that depends on the magnitude of the driving force (current density and non-adiabaticity parameter). The origin is sliding motion of the skyrmion along the grain boundaries, followed by pinning and depinning at the grain junctions. A side-jump can occur during this depinning process. In addition, the critical current that triggers the skyrmion motion depends on the relative size of the crystallites with respect to the skyrmion size. Finally, when the skyrmion trajectory is confined along an edge by the non-adiabatic Magnus force, the critical current density can be significantly reduced. Our results imply that narrow nanowires have higher skyrmion mobilities.

In this work, we study the motion of skyrmions in a ferromagnetic waveguide using a time-dependent non-equilibrium Green’s function formalism implemented on a real space tight-binding model. We analyze the perturbation induced by this motion and look at the time-dependent distribution of the non-equilibrium charge, spin densities and then discuss the topological Hall effect. The current pumped during this motion is analyzed and shown to have an influence on the torque applied on the whole texture with a signature unveiled in the renormalization of the damping parameter. A cooperative effect due to the collective motion of skyrmions is proposed in order to enhance the skyrmion's velocity. The stationary regime is analyzed as a function of the different parameters of the system and explained using the formalism of electronic pumping. A simple formula for the current is provided. We propose this cooperative electronic pumping to enhance the collective skyrmion mobility in racetracks.

We investigate the emergence of both quantum anomalous Hall and disorder-induced Anderson Chern insulating phases in two dimensional hexagonal lattices, with antiferromagnetically ordered 3Q state and in the absence of spin-orbit coupling. Using tight-binding modeling, we show that such systems display not only a spin-polarized edge-localized current, the chirality of which is energy dependent but also an impurity-induced transition from trivial metallic to topological insulating regimes, through one edge mode plateau. We compute the gaps' phase diagrams, and demonstrate the robustness of the edge channel against deformation and disorder. Our study hints at the 3Q state as a promising building block for dissipationless spintronics based on antiferromagnets.

The spin field-effect transistor, an essential building block for spin information processing, shows promise for energy-efficient computing. Despite steady progress, it suffers from a low-output signal because of low spin injection and detection efficiencies. We demonstrate that this low-output obstacle can be overcome by utilizing direct and inverse spin Hall effects for spin injection and detection, respectively, without a ferromagnetic component. The output voltage of our all-electric spin Hall transistor is about two orders of magnitude larger than that of previously reported spin transistors based on ferromagnets or quantum point contacts. Moreover, the symmetry of the spin Hall effect allows all-electric spin Hall transistors to effectively mimic n-type and p-type devices, opening a way of realizing the complementary functionality.

It is well known that moving magnetic textures may pump spin and charge currents along the direction of motion, a phenomenon called electronic pumping. Here, the electronic pumping arising from the steady motion of ferromagnetic skyrmions is investigated by solving the time evolution of the Schrödinger equation implemented on a tight-binding model with the statistical physics of the many-body problem. In contrast with rigid one-dimensional magnetic textures, we show that steadily moving magnetic skyrmions are able to pump large dc currents. This ability arises from their nontrivial magnetic topology, i.e., the coexistence of the spin-motive force and the topological Hall effect. Based on an adiabatic scattering theory, we compute the pumped current and demonstrate that it scales with the reflection coefficient of the conduction electrons against the skyrmion. In other words, in the semiclassical limit, reducing the size of the skyrmion and the width of the nanowire enhances this effect, making it scalable. We propose that such a phenomenon can be exploited in the context of racetrack devices, where the electronic pumping enhances the collective motion of the train of skyrmions.

Using the tools of random matrix theory we develop a statistical analysis of the transport properties of thermoelectric low-dimensional systems made of two electron reservoirs set at different temperatures and chemical potentials, and connected through a low-density-of-states two-level quantum dot that acts as a conducting chaotic cavity. Our exact treatment of the chaotic behavior in such devices lies on the scattering matrix formalism and yields analytical expressions for the joint probability distribution functions of the Seebeck coefficient and the transmission profile, as well as the marginal distributions, at arbitrary Fermi energy. The scattering matrices belong to circular ensembles which we sample to numerically compute the transmission function, the Seebeck coefficient, and their relationship. The exact transport coefficients probability distributions are found to be highly non-Gaussian for small numbers of conduction modes, and the analytical and numerical results are in excellent agreement. The system performance is also studied, and we find that the optimum performance is obtained for half-transparent quantum dots; further, this optimum may be enhanced for systems with few conduction modes.

Using the concept of minimal chaotic cavities, we give the distribution of the proper delay times of \hbox{$Q=-i\hbar \mathcal{S}^{\dagger}\frac{\partial \mathcal{S}}{\partial E}$} Q = − i ħ 𝒮 † ∂ 𝒮 ∂E at the spectrum edge with a scattering matrix \hbox{$\mathcal{S}$} 𝒮 belonging to circular ensembles. The three classes of symmetry (β = 1,2 and 4) are analyzed to show how it differs from the distribution obtained in the bulk of the spectrum. In this new class of universality at the spectrum edge, more attention is given to the Wigner’s time τ w = Tr(Q) and its distribution is given analytically in the case of two-mode scattering. The results are presented exactly at all the Fermi energies without approximation and are tested numerically with an excellent precision.

Improvement of thermoelectric systems in terms of performance and range of applications relies on progress in materials science and optimization of device operation. In this chapter, we focuse on optimization by taking into account the interaction of the system with its environment. For this purpose, we consider the illustrative case of a thermoelectric generator coupled to two temperature baths via heat exchangers characterized by a thermal resistance, and we analyze its working conditions. Our main message is that both electrical and thermal impedance matching conditions must be met for optimal device performance. Our analysis is fundamentally based on linear nonequilibrium thermodynamics using the force-flux formalism. An outlook on mesoscopic systems is also given.

We study chaotic scattering outside the wide band limit, as the Fermi energy $E_F$ approaches the band edges $E_B$ of a one-dimensional lattice embedding a scattering region of M sites. We show that the delay-time and thermopower distributions differ near the edges from the universal expressions valid in the bulk. To obtain the asymptotic universal forms of these edge distributions, one must keep constant the energy distance $E_F-E_B$ measured in units of the same energy scale proportional to $\propto M^{-1/3}$ which is used for rescaling the energy level spacings at the spectrum edges of large Gaussian matrices. In particular the delay-time and the thermopower have the same universal edge distributions for arbitrary M as those for an M=2 scatterer, which we obtain analytically.

We study the thermoelectric transport coefficients of a one-dimensional (1D) electron waveguide connected to one and then two off-channel cavities, in the presence of dephasing phonons. The model system is that of a linear chain described as a 1D lattice. For simplicity we consider single-mode cavities, which may be tuned with external gates. While the presence of only one off-channel cavity yields a nearly symmetric transmission profile, which is canceled around the cavity mode, an additional cavity modifies this profile strongly and results in an asymmetric shape characterized by oscillations. In both cases, we consider electron-phonon interactions in our calculations and analyze their effects on the transmission function around the Fermi energy. Knowledge of the energy-dependent transmission function allows the numerical computation of thermoelectric transport coefficients, including the thermopower. In the presence of a second off-channel cavity, the sign of the thermopower depends on the relative position of this cavity energy level with respect to the Fermi energy: the thermopower is positive when low-energy electrons in the vicinity of the Fermi level are not transmitted and becomes negative when the higher-energy electrons are not transmitted.