title: Emergent Gauge Fields from Curvature in Single Layers of Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides.
abstract: We analyze the electron dynamics in corrugated layers of transition-metal dichalcogenides. Due to the strong spin-orbit coupling, the intrinsic (Gaussian) curvature leads to an emergent gauge field associated with the Berry connection of the spinor wave function. We discuss the gauge field created by topological defects of the lattice, namely, tetragonal and octogonal disclinations and edge dislocations. Ripples and topological disorder induce the same dephasing effects as a random magnetic field, suppressing the weak localization effects. This geometric magnetic field can be detected in an Aharonov-Bohm interferometry experiment by measuring the local density of states in the vicinity of corrugations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Héctor
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ochoa
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Ricardo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Zarzuela
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA.
authors.forename: Yaroslav
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tserkovnyak