Geometry, mechanics, and electronics of singular structures and wrinkles in graphene

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 105; no. 15; p. 156603
• Main Authors: Pereira, Vitor M, Castro Neto, A H, Liang, H Y, Mahadevan, L
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 05-10-2010
• ISSN: 0031-9007; 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.105.156603

As the thinnest atomic membrane, graphene presents an opportunity to combine geometry, elasticity, and electronics at the limits of their validity. We describe the transport and electronic structure in the neighborhood of conical singularities, the elementary excitations of the ubiquitous wrinkled and crumpled graphene. We use a combination of atomistic mechanical simulations, analytical geometry, and transport calculations in curved graphene, and exact diagonalization of the electronic spectrum to calculate the effects of geometry on electronic structure, transport, and mobility in suspended samples, and how the geometry-generated pseudomagnetic and pseudoelectric fields might disrupt Landau quantization.