Metallic proximity effect in ballistic graphene with resonant scatterers

TL;DR

This paper investigates how resonant scatterers influence the local density of states in ballistic graphene, revealing strong position dependence near the Dirac point due to metallic proximity and impurity effects, impacting electronic properties.

Contribution

It demonstrates the significant impact of resonant impurities on local electronic states in graphene, highlighting the interplay between metallic proximity effects and impurity scattering.

Findings

Density of states varies strongly near the Dirac point due to proximity and impurities.

Single-atom impurities can significantly alter electronic states over large distances.

Metallic proximity effects can hinder uniform gating in weakly-doped graphene samples.

Abstract

We study the effect of resonant scatterers on the local density of states in a rectangular graphene setup with metallic leads. We find that the density of states in a vicinity of the Dirac point acquires a strong position dependence due to both metallic proximity effect and impurity scattering. This effect may prevent uniform gating of weakly-doped samples. We also demonstrate that even a single-atom impurity may essentially alter electronic states at low-doping on distances of the order of the sample size from the impurity.