Field-controlled Electronic Breathing Modes and Transport in Nanoporous Graphene

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how electrical fields can control electronic breathing modes and current patterns in nanoporous graphene, enabling potential applications in nanoelectronics and quantum information processing.

Contribution

It introduces a method to control electronic waveguiding and breathing modes in nanoporous graphene using transverse electric fields, a novel approach for molecular-scale current manipulation.

Findings

Low fields produce periodic current patterns along ribbons.

High fields localize current to single ribbons.

Breathing modes are robust under disorder.

Abstract

Nanoporous graphene (NPG) has been fabricated by on-surface-self assembly in the form of arrays of apporx. 1 nm-wide graphene nanoribbons connected via molecular bridges in a two-dimensional crystal lattice. It is predicted that NPG may, despite its molecular structure, work as electron waveguides that display e.g. Talbot wave interference. Here, we demonstrate how the electronic wave guidance may be controlled by the use of electrical fields transverse to the ribbons; at low fields, point injected currents display spatially periodic patterns along the ribbons, while high fields localize the injected current to single ribbons. This behavior constitutes an electronic version of optical breathing modes of Bloch oscillations, providing a simple mechanism for controlling the current patterns down to the molecular scale. The robustness of the self-repeating patterns under disorder demonstrate that the breathing modes of single-ribbon injections offer exciting opportunities for applications in nanoelectronics, molecular sensing, and quantum information processing.