Reply to "Comment on Gap opening in graphene by shear strain''

TL;DR

This paper defends previous findings on shear strain effects in supported graphene, clarifying conditions under which results hold and addressing concerns about free-standing versus supported configurations.

Contribution

The authors clarify the validity of their shear strain results for supported graphene and distinguish their work from free-standing graphene studies.

Findings

Results are valid when out-of-plane relaxations are inhibited.

Supported graphene behavior differs from free-standing cases.

The conclusions are consistent with recent related research.

Abstract

In reply to the Comment by Ramasubramaniam regarding our article [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 81}, 241412(R) (2010)] we clarify that our results are indeed valid provided that out-of-plane atomic relaxations are inhibited, as it may occur in the technologically relevant case of supported graphene sheets. We argue that the Comment, while overall interesting, is addressed to the different case of a free standing graphene monolayer and, therefore, does not invalidate our conclusions. We also remark that the rippled configuration discussed in the Comment is most likely affected by major size effects and that, contrary to what suggested, our conclusions are not in contrast with the recent work by Pereira {\it et al.} [Phys. Rev. B {\bf 80}, 045401 (2009)].