Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Centro de Nanociencias y Nanotecnología

Inglés Técnico I: Producción Escrita
Santiago Galván y García

Dirac Materials

Introduction Graphene
Dirac materials are lattice systems whose Graphene is the most popular Dirac material and
excitations are described by relativistic equations, has these interactions. Graphene is an atomic-thin
mainly the Dirac or Weyl equations. Dirac layer of carbon atoms that form a 2D hexagonal
materials are usually narrow or zero gap lattice [5] as seen in the figure 2.
semiconductors where two or more bands strongly
couple near a ‘level-crossing’. In essence, when the
material has a low energy excitation a Dirac
material has Dirac points -nodes or cones- as seen
in the figure 1. [1] Graphene, topological insulators,
d-wave superconductors and Weyl semimetals are
some examples of Dirac materials.

Figure 2: Hexagonal graphene lattice.

Because of this geometry, the Dirac equation

Figure 1: Energy dispersion of graphene. The circled image is
a Dirac Cone.
To understand the physics behind these materials,
we must consider the Dirac and Weyl equations for
spin one-half fermions. The Dirac equation
describes massive fermions [2], whereas the Weyl
equation describes massless particles. [3] These
expressions were introduced as relativistic wave
equations for a single free particle and their
solutions explain the existence of antiparticles and
the chirality of massless particles - the projection
of the spin along the direction of the momentum of
the particle. [4]
accounts for the particle-antiparticle pair creation
in the lattice and the Weyl equation quantifies the
energy of the massless electron moving to a certain
but unique velocity: The Fermi velocity- three
hundred times slower than the speed of light. [6]
Recalling the definition of Dirac materials,
graphene possesses Dirac cones at certain points
since the electron has a Fermi velocity and
becomes massless by the relativistic effect, and
couples its spin with one of the carbon orbitals.
When the electron is in a certain point of the p z
orbital, it annihilates with its ‘hole’-the part of the
space where the electric field of the electron does
not exist- and only interacts at the Dirac point,
which gives graphene its conductive properties. [7]
Topological insulators.
Topological insulators are materials related to
Dirac physics and have received a lot of attention
because of their topological nature. Like normal
insulators, the valence and conduction bands of
these materials are separated by a finite energy gap
in the entire reciprocal lattice zone of the bulk
material. However, the surface of these materials
host Dirac states that close these gaps, providing
these insulators a weird feature: insulators in the
inside, conductors in the surface. [8]
These topologically protected surface states have a
massless Dirac spectrum, where the momentum is
locked to the spin resulting in a spin-helical metal.
The Hamiltonian -the total energy operator of the
system- of these materials can be represented in
terms of a fictional magnetic field acting on a
pseudo-particle property called pseudospin. [8]
These elements result in three different Dirac
cones, as seen in the figure 3.
Figure 3: Dirac cones of a topological insulator. The gapes
widen when the mass of the electron increases.
These materials depend of the depth of the quantum
wells produced by the symmetries of the crystal [8],
thus nanotechnology has an important role for their
elaboration and uses.
d-wave superconductors
The industry and the scientific community have
special interest in superconductors because of their
unique properties. A superconductor is a material
that will conduct electricity without resistance
below a certain temperature and produces a
permeable magnetic field. Magnetic-levitation is
an application that superconductors perform
extremely well and can be used with mass transit
vehicles such as trains to make them "float" on
strong superconducting magnets, virtually
eliminating friction between the train and its tracks.
[9]
However, superconductors only work at
extremely low temperatures -subzero
temperatures-, rendering the investigation of high
temperature superconductors necessary.
High temperature cuprate superconductors receive
the name of d-wave superconductors and belongs
in the Dirac material classification because of the
presence of the formerly mentioned Dirac cones.
Unlike graphene and topological insulators, d-wave
superconductors have gapless points with Dirac
dispersions, as seen in the figure 4.
Figure 4: Gapless Dirac cones present in d-wave
superconductors. Dashed lines are used to locate the Dirac
cones.
These materials are layered with weak couplings
between them so is necessary the use of a 2D
Hamiltonian. In addition, there is no spin-orbit
coupling here, but a spinless time-reversal
symmetry and particle-hole symmetry, and chiral
symmetry allows the Hamiltonian to have gapless
points where both the single particle dispersion and
the pairing vanish. In superconducting systems, the
Dirac points come in quadruplets because of the
spinless time-reversal symmetry, having a parallel
Dirac point in k -the momentum represented as a
space point- and -k. [10]
Weyl semimetals
Graphene and topological insulators are two
dimensional Dirac materials. Still, band crossing
points are stable in three dimensions. Momentum
crossings possess three-dimensional Dirac-like
nodal point and is possible to tune the chemical
potential to line up the crossing point, thus creating
a semimetal with a linear Dirac spectrum. [11]
Applications
The possible applications for Dirac materials are
countless, but the electronic and magnetoelectronic
applications are distinguishable. The massless
fermions present in the hexagonal lattice of
graphene are useful for faster electronic
components and the electrons can couple with the
graphene pseudospin, enabling the system to
interact with external magnetic and electric fields
and be able to manipulate the spin of the electron.
The latter phenomena can be used to create better
information storage, for example. [12]
Topological insulators are a promising material for
quantum computers because of the possibility of
forming a spin current in the surface of these
compounds. [13] d-wave semiconductors can be
applied in magnetic levitation and electronics with
permanent electronic motion. Weyl semimetals can
be used as spin generators, magneto resistive
materials -the electric resistance of the material
reduces if a magnetic field increases- and are
excellent candidates to generate and study quantum
phenomena. [14]
References
[1] Cayssol, J. (2013). Introduction to Dirac
materials and topological insulators.
Comptes Rendus Physique, 14(9-10), 760-
778.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crhy.2013.09.
012
[2] P. A. M. Dirac, The quantum theory of the
electron, P. Roy. Soc. Lond. Ser.
117(778)(1928)610–624.
[3] H. Weyl, Electron and gravitation, Z.
Phys .56(1929)330–352.
[4] Cayssol, J. (2013). Introduction to Dirac
materials and topological insulators.
Comptes Rendus Physique, 14(9-10), 760-
778.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.crhy.2013.09.
012
[5] Castro Neto, A., Guinea, F., Peres, N.,
Novoselov, K., & Geim, A. (2009). The
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Reviews of Modern Physics, 81(1), 131.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.8
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[6] Wehling, T., Schaffer, A., & Balatsky, A.
(2014). Dirac Materials. Advances in
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[7] Wehling, T., Schaffer, A., & Balatsky, A.
(2014). Dirac Materials. Advances in
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[8] Wehling, T., Schaffer, A., & Balatsky, A.
(2014). Dirac Materials. Advances in
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[9] Superconductor Uses. (2015).
Superconductors.org. Retrieved 1 March
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m
[10]d-wave superconductors and edge states -
TU Delft OCW. (2018). TU Delft OCW.
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[11] Wehling, T., Schaffer, A., & Balatsky, A.
(2014). Dirac Materials. Advances in
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[12]Bercioux, D., & Lucignano, P. (2015).
Quantum transport in Rashba spin–orbit
materials: a review. Reports on Progress
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0034-
4885/78/10/106001
[13]Manchon, A., Koo, H., Nitta, J., Frolov,
S., & Duine, R. (2015). New perspectives
for Rashba spin–orbit coupling. Nature
Materials, 14(9), 871-882.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nmat4360
[14] What can you do with a Weyl semimetal?
– Physics World. (2014). Physics World.
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you-do-with-a-weyl-semimetal/