salvador barazza-lopez, an associate professor of physics at the university of arkansas (fayetteville), recently published a review article on the properties of strained graphene and other two-dimensional atomic materials, according to an announcement from the university.

salvador barazza-lopez published a review of the properties of 2-d materials.
(university of arkansas)

“materials that are atomically thin can be thought as membranes,” the announcement stated. “membranes bend to adapt to other materials, and change their properties when pulled from two opposite edges. electronic and optical properties of atomically-thin membranes are modified as a result of bending and stretching, and the 62-page published article provides a detailed descriptions of these effects.”

the one-year project was led by researchers at the institute of physics national university of mexico and barazza-lopez said that it summarized work he has been conducting at arkansas for six years. he used the school’s high performance computing center to complete the study.

according to the announcement, “the review proves the crystallographic description of mechanical deformations, as well as the diffraction pattern for different kinds of representative deformation fields. various theoretical approaches to study the electronic properties of strained graphene were examined. exotic properties, such as a fractal spectrum related with quasicrystals, a mixed dirac-schrödinger behavior, emergent gravity, topological insulator states, in molecular graphene and other 2d discrete lattices were included.”

the full paper was published in reports on progress in physics. the abstract stated:

“this review presents the state of the art in strain and ripple-induced effects on the electronic and optical properties of graphene. it starts by providing the crystallographic description of mechanical deformations, as well as the diffraction pattern for different kinds of representative deformation fields.

“then, the focus turns to the unique elastic properties of graphene, and to how strain is produced. thereafter, various theoretical approaches used to study the electronic properties of strained graphene are examined, discussing the advantages of each.

“these approaches provide a platform to describe exotic properties, such as a fractal spectrum related with quasicrystals, a mixed dirac–schrödinger behavior, emergent gravity, topological insulator states, in molecular graphene and other 2d discrete lattices. the physical consequences of strain on the optical properties are reviewed next, with a focus on the raman spectrum.

“at the same time, recent advances to tune the optical conductivity of graphene by strain engineering are given, which open new paths in device applications.

“finally, a brief review of strain effects in multilayered graphene and other promising 2d materials like silicene and materials based on other group-iv elements, phosphorene, dichalcogenide- and monochalcogenide-monolayers is presented, with a brief discussion of interplays among strain, thermal effects, and illumination in the latter material family.”