Gate-tunable artificial nucleus in graphene

TL;DR

This study demonstrates the precise integration of nitrogen dopants in graphene to create gate-tunable artificial nuclei, revealing quantum states and correlation effects through combined experimental and theoretical analysis.

Contribution

It introduces an atomically-precise method for creating artificial nuclei in graphene and characterizes their quantum states and screening effects.

Findings

Nitrogen dopants induce characteristic resonance states in graphene.

Carrier-dependent energy renormalization up to 350 meV observed.

Long-range screening effects confirmed by experiments and calculations.

Abstract

We report an atomically-precise integration of individual nitrogen (N) dopant as an in-plane artificial nucleus in a graphene device by atomic implantation to probe its gate-tunable quantum states and correlation effects. The N dopant creates the characteristic resonance state in the conduction band, revealing a giant carrier-dependent energetic renormalization up to 350 meV with respect to the Dirac point, accompanied by the observation of long-range screening effects. Joint density functional theory and tight-binding calculations with modified perturbation potential corroborate experimental findings and highlight the short-range character of N-induced perturbation.