Electronic states and transport in graphene-TMD heterostructures

The advent of graphene and other monolayer 2D materials has opened the possibility to combine them in stacks that show interesting effects. We study here one interesting example, as the proximity of graphene and transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMD) heterostructures (G-TMD) results on unusual electronic states and transport properties. We employ an effective Hamiltionian that describes the broken inversion symmetry in graphene due to the proximity of the TMD but preserves temporal inversion [1]. The latter symmetry can be broken when an external magnetic field is applied, generating gaps in the band structure and consequent changes in electronic states that we study as function of field direction and magnitude for different TMD systems. We focus on the competition with spin-orbit effects. We also present results on transport properties, calculating the spin-dependent transmission and reflection coefficients of carriers propagating on a graphene sheet decorated with TMD ribbons on top.

[1] A. M. Alsharari, et al., Phys. Rev. B 97, 241104(R) (2018).