Aula Conversi (Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi)
Aula Conversi
Dip. di Fisica - Edificio G. Marconi
Description
The recent experimental discovery in 2004 of graphene, a two-dimensional allotrope of carbon formed by a single carbon layer, provides a new and unexpected bridge between condensed matter and high-energy physics. The graphene samples used in the experiments show
corrugations that can influence the transport properties of the system. The low-energy excitations of the system are relativistic Dirac fermions. This fact calls for the possibility of using general relativity techniques to study the influence of the curvature of the background sheet on the electronic properties of the samples. Topological defects in graphene give rise to singular metrics: Disclinations mimic cosmic strings and dislocations introduce distorsion in the space, a rare property in general relativity that can result in a feedback for cosmologists. These defects give rise to long-range correlated disorder that give rise to non-universal minimal
conductivity of the samples.