The overlooked role of band-gap parameter in characterization of Landau levels in a gapped phase semi-Dirac system: the monolayer phosphorene case

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the band-gap parameter influences Landau levels in gapped semi-Dirac systems, using monolayer phosphorene as a case study, revealing its critical role in magnetic and electronic properties.

Contribution

It introduces the significance of the band-gap parameter in Landau level behavior in GSD systems, providing a detailed theoretical analysis with implications for various physical properties.

Findings

The band-gap parameter affects the index- and magnetic field-dependence of Landau levels.

The effective potential in the Schrödinger equation is sensitive to the tunable band-gap.

The magnetic field dependence of Landau levels can evolve into a B^{2/3} behavior under strain-induced gap modification.

Abstract

Two-dimensional gapped semi-Dirac (GSD) materials are systems with a finite band gap that their charge carriers behave relativistically in one direction and Schr\"odinger-like in the other. In the present work, we show that besides the two well-known energy bands features (curvature and chirality), the band-gap parameter also play a crucial role in the index- and magnetic field-dependence of the Landau levels (LLs) in a GSD system. We take the monolayer phosphorene as a GSD representative example to explicitly provide physical insights into the role of this parameter in determining the index- and magnetic field-dependence of LLs. We derive an effective one-dimensional Schr\"odinger equation for charge carriers in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field and argue that the form of its effective potential is clearly sensitive to a dimensionless band-gap that is tunable by structural parameters. The theoretical magnitude of this effective gap and its interplay with oval shape $k$-space cyclotron orbits resolve the seeming contradiction in determining the type of the quantum Hall effect in the pristine monolayer phosphorene. Our results strongly confirm that the dependence of LLs on the magnetic field in this GSD material is as conventional two-dimensional semiconductor electron gases up to a very high field regime. Using the strain-induced gap modification scheme, we show the field dependence of the LLs continuously evolves into $B^{2/3}$ behavior, which holds for a gapless semi-Dirac system. The highlighted role of the band-gap parameter may affect the consequences of the band anisotropy in the physical properties of a GSD material, including magnetotransport, optical conductivity, dielectric function, and thermoelectric performance.