Interview for Faculty Position

Searching for “Free” Massless Dirac Fermions in Flatland

Caglar Girit

University of California, Berkeley

Graphene, a two-dimensional carbon allotrope, has interesting electronic properties resulting from its unique atomic and crystal structure. Electronic quasiparticles in graphene obey the massless, two-dimensional Dirac equation and are analogous to ultrarelativistic electrons. They have been detected experimentally by various means. I will discuss experiments to detect them in the ballistic electronic transport regime where the quasiparticles do not scatter. First, I will overview the synthesis of graphene and its physical characterization by methods such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and Raman spectroscopy. Next I will discuss ballistic Dirac fermion detection in graphene by quantum point contacts, Josephson junctions, and “short-and-wide” junctions. Finally, I will summarize progress towards fabrication of arrays of suspended synthesized-graphene junctions and present possible applications of ballistic graphene devices.