title: Tuning charge and spin excitations in zigzag edge nanographene ribbons.
abstract: Graphene and its quasi-one-dimensional counterpart, graphene nanoribbons, present an ideal platform for tweaking their unique electronic, magnetic and mechanical properties by various means for potential next-generation device applications. However, such tweaking requires knowledge of the electron-electron interactions that play a crucial role in these confined geometries. Here, we have investigated the magnetic and conducting properties of zigzag edge graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) using the many-body configuration interaction (CI) method on the basis of the Hubbard Hamiltonian. For the half-filled case, the many-body ground state shows a ferromagnetic spin-spin correlation along the zigzag edge, which supports the picture obtained from one-electron theory. However, hole doping reduces the spin and charge excitation gap, making the ground state conducting and magnetic. We also provide a two-state model that explains the low-lying charge and spin excitation spectrum of ZGNRs. An experimental setup to confirm the hole-mediated conducting and magnetic states is discussed.
authors: International Center for Materials Nanoarchitechtonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science, Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan.
authors: Sudipta
authors: S
authors: Dutta
authors: Katsunori
authors: K
authors: Wakabayashi