Internal mobility edge in doped graphene: frustration in a renormalized lattice

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the emergence of an internal mobility edge in doped graphene due to frustration effects in a renormalized lattice, contrasting with traditional localization at band edges.

Contribution

It reveals a novel internal mobility edge in graphene caused by impurity-induced frustration, explained through Hamiltonian renormalization and lattice bipartiteness.

Findings

Internal mobility edge appears around the Fermi energy.

The edge is at the spectrum's center, not at band edges.

Localized states occupy a spectral region similar to narrow gap semiconductors.

Abstract

We show that an internal localization mobility edge can appear around the Fermi energy in graphene by introducing impurities in the split-band regimen, or by producing vacancies in the lattice. The edge appears at the center of the spectrum and not at the band edges, in contrast with the usual picture of localization. Such result is explained by showing that the bipartite nature of lattice allows to renormalize the Hamiltonian, and the internal edge appears because of frustration effects in the renormalized lattice. The size in energy of the spectral region with localized states is similar in value to that observed in narrow gap semiconductors.