Impurity states in graphene with intrinsic spin-orbit interaction

TL;DR

This paper investigates how a single impurity atom and intrinsic spin-orbit interaction in graphene influence electron energy states, revealing potential impurity states near the energy gap caused by spin-orbit effects.

Contribution

It models the impact of a substituting impurity atom and intrinsic spin-orbit interaction on graphene's electron energy spectrum near the Dirac point.

Findings

Impurity states can occur near the energy gap in graphene.

Spin-orbit interaction modifies the local electronic structure.

Impurity states are influenced by the presence of spin-orbit coupling.

Abstract

We consider the problem of electron energy states related to strongly localized potential of a single impurity in graphene. Our model simulates the effect of impurity atom substituting the atom of carbon, on the energy spectrum of electrons near the Dirac point. We take into account the internal spin-orbit interaction, which can modify the structure of electron bands at very small neighborhood of the Dirac point, leading to the energy gap. This makes possible the occurrence of additional impurity states in the vicinity of the gap.