Open Quantum Dots in Graphene: Scaling Relativistic Pointer States

Open quantum dots provide a window into the connection between quantum and classical physics, particularly through the decoherence theory, in which an important set of quantum states are not “washed out” through interaction with the environment—the pointer states provide connection to trapped classical orbits which remain stable in the dots. Graphene is a recently discovered material with highly unusual properties. This single layer, one atom thick, sheet of carbon has a unique bandstructure, governed by the Dirac equation, in which charge carriers imitate relativistic particles with zero rest mass. Here, an atomic orbital-based recursive Green’s function method is used for studying the quantum transport. We study quantum fluctuations in graphene and bilayer graphene quantum dots with this recursive Green’s function method. Finally, we examine the scaling of the domiant fluctuation frequency with dot size.