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We report the Drude oscillator strength D and the magnitude of the bulk band gap E_{g} of the epitaxially grown, topological insulator (Bi,Sb)_{2}Te_{3}. The magnitude of E_{g}, in conjunction with the model independent f-sum rule, allows us to establish an upper bound for the magnitude of D expected in a typical Dirac-like system composed of linear bands. The experimentally observed D is found to be at or below this theoretical upper bound, demonstrating the effectiveness of alloying in eliminating bulk charge carriers. Moreover, direct comparison of the measured D to magnetoresistance measurements of the same sample supports assignment of the observed low-energy conduction to topological surface states.

The problem of electrostatic screening of a charged line by undoped or weakly doped graphene is treated beyond the linear-response theory. The induced electron density is found to be approximately doping independent, n(x)~(log x)^2/x^2, at intermediate distances x from the charged line. At larger x, twin p-n junctions may form if the external perturbation is repulsive for graphene charge carriers. The effect of such inhomogeneities on conductance and quantum capacitance of graphene is calculated. The results are relevant for transport properties of graphene grain boundaries and for local electrostatic control of graphene with ultrathin gates., Comment: Fixed typos and added references

We re-examine a long-standing problem of a finite-frequency conductivity of a weakly pinned two-dimensional classical Wigner crystal. In this system an inhomogeneously broadened absorption line (pinning mode) centered at disorder and magnetic field dependent frequency $\omega_p$ is known to appear. We show that the relative linewidth $\Delta \omega_p / \omega_p$ of the pinning mode is of the order of one in weak magnetic fields, exhibits a power-law decrease in intermediate fields, and eventually saturates at a small value in strong magnetic fields. The linewidth narrowing is due to a peculiar mechanism of mixing between the stiffer longitudinal and the softer transverse components of the collective excitations. The width of the high-field resonance proves to be related to the density of states in the low-frequency tail of the zero-field phonon spectrum. We find a qualitative agreement with recent experiments and point out differences from the previous theoretical work on the subject., Comment: 19 pages, 11 figures. Supersedes cond-mat/9904245

We show that the the cyclotron resonance in a two-dimensional electron gas has non-trivial properties if the correlation length of the disorder is larger than the de Broglie wavelength: (a) the lineshape assumes three different forms in strong, intermediate, and weak magnetic fields (b) at the transition from the intermediate to the weak fields the linewidth suddenly collapses due to an explosive growth in the fraction of electrons with a diffusive-type dynamics., Comment: A few typos corrected

We study a two-dimensional motion of a charged particle in a weak random potential and a perpendicular magnetic field. The correlation length of the potential is assumed to be much larger than the de Broglie wavelength. Under such conditions, the motion on not too large length scales is described by classical equations of motion. We show that the phase-space averaged diffusion coefficient is given by Drude-Lorentz formula only at magnetic fields $B$ smaller than certain value $B_c$. At larger fields, the chaotic motion is suppressed and the diffusion coefficient becomes exponentially small. In addition, we calculate the quantum-mechanical localization length as a function of $B$ in the minima of $��_{xx}$. At $B < B_c$ it is exponentially large but decreases with increasing $B$. At $B > B_c$, the localization length drops precipitously, and ceases to be exponentially large at a field $B_\ast$, which is only slightly above $B_c$. Implications for the crossover from the Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations to the quantum Hall effect are discussed., 20 pages, 5 figures

We compare the energies of the Laughlin liquid and a charge density wave in a weak magnetic field for the upper Landau-level filling factors ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\mathrm{N}}$= and . The charge-density-wave period has been optimized and was found to be \ensuremath{\simeq}3.${3\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{c}}$, where ${\mathrm{R}}_{\mathrm{c}}$ is the cyclotron radius. We conclude that the optimal charge density wave is lower in energy than the Laughlin liquid for the Landau-level numbers N\ensuremath{\geqslant}2 at ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\mathrm{N}}$= and for N\ensuremath{\geqslant}3 at ${\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\mathrm{N}}$=. This implies that the quantum Hall plateaus cannot be observed for N\ensuremath{\geqslant}2, in agreement with the experiment.

We consider variations of the low temperature chemical potential and magnetization of laterally confined two-dimensional interacting electrons in a strong magnetic field. Cases of axially symmetrical (a quantum dot) and strongly elongated (a quantum wire) spatial distributions of electron density are studied. We commonly refer to both types of systems as ``islands.'' The calculations are performed in the mean-field approximation. In this approximation the system consists of alternating regions of compressible and incompressible liquids. We are focusing on islands with typical widths b, which are much larger than the Bohr radius in a semiconductor ${\mathit{a}}_{\mathit{B}}$, and argue that the density profile is formed mainly by electrostatic forces, has a domelike shape, and changes only slightly in the whole range of magnetic fields. We calculated numerically the chemical potential and the magnetization as functions of the magnetic field and found them to be in sharp contrast to the conventional result for noninteracting electrons. We suggest a simple analytic theory adequately explaining these functional dependences. The results are compared with the experimental data.

Electric double layer supercapacitors are promising devices for high-power energy storage based on the reversible absorption of ions into porous, conducting electrodes. Graphene is a particularly good candidate for the electrode material in supercapacitors due to its high conductivity and large surface area. In this paper we consider supercapacitor electrodes made from a stack of graphene sheets with randomly-inserted "spacer" molecules. We show that the large volumetric capacitances C > 100 F/cm^3 observed experimentally can be understood as a result of collective intercalation of ions into the graphene stack and the accompanying nonlinear screening by graphene electrons that renormalizes the charge of the ion clusters., 13 pages, 5 figures; additional discussion and supporting calculations added

Variable-range hopping transport along short one-dimensional wires and across the shortest dimension of thin three-dimensional films and narrow two-dimensional ribbons is studied theoretically. Geometric and transport characteristics of the hopping resistor network are shown to depend on temperature T and the dimensionality of the system. In two and three dimensions the usual Mott law applies at high T where the correlation length of the network is smaller than the sample thickness. As T decreases, the network breaks into sparse filamentary paths, while the Mott law changes to a different T-dependence, which is derived using the percolation theory methods. In one dimension, deviations from the Mott law are known to exist at all temperatures because of rare fluctuations. The evolution of such fluctuations from highly-resistive "breaks" at high T to highly-conducting "shorts" at low T is elucidated., Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures

We analyze the response of bilayer graphene to an external transverse electric field using a variational method. A previous attempt to do so in a recent paper by Falkovsky [Phys. Rev. B 80, 113413 (2009)] is shown to be flawed. Our calculation reaffirms the original results obtained by one of us [E. McCann, Phys. Rev. B 74, 161403(R) (2006)] by a different method. Finally, we generalize these original results to describe a dual-gated bilayer graphene device.

The ground-state and the transport properties of graphene subject to the potential of in-plane charged impurities are studied. The screening of the impurity potential is shown to be nonlinear, producing a fractal structure of electron and hole puddles. Statistical properties of this density distribution as well as the charge compressibility of the system are calculated in the leading-log approximation. The conductivity depends logarithmically on $\alpha$, the dimensionless strength of the Coulomb interaction. The theory is asymptotically exact when $\alpha$ is small, which is the case for graphene on a substrate with a high dielectric constant., Comment: (v3) 4 pages main paper, 2 pages supplementary info, no figures

We report on the principle and realization of a new trap for excitons---the diamond electrostatic trap---which uses a single electrode to create a confining potential for excitons. We also create elevated diamond traps which permit evaporative cooling of the exciton gas. We observe the collection of excitons towards the trap center with increasing exciton density. This effect is due to screening of disorder in the trap by the excitons. As a result, the diamond trap behaves as a smooth parabolic potential which realizes a cold and dense exciton gas at the trap center.

We evaluate the effect of diffraction-limited resolution of the optical system on the estimates of the coherence length of 2D excitons deduced from the interferometric study of the exciton emission. The results are applied for refining our earlier estimates of the coherence length of a cold gas of indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells [S. Yang et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 187402(2006)]. We show that the apparent coherence length is well approximated by the quadratic sum of the actual exciton coherence length and the diffraction correction given by the conventional Abbe limit divided by 3.14. In practice, accounting for diffraction is necessary only when the coherence length is smaller than about one wavelength. The earlier conclusions regarding the strong enhancement of the exciton coherence length at low temperatures remain intact., Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures

A novel variational method is proposed for calculating the percolation threshold, the real-space structure, and the thermodynamical compressibility of a disordered two-dimensional electron liquid. Its high accuracy is verified against prior numerical results and newly derived exact asymptotics. The inverse compressibility is shown to have a strongly asymmetric minimum at a density that is approximately the triple of the percolation threshold. This implies that the experimentally observed metal-insulator transition takes place well before the percolation point is reached., 4 pages, 2 figures. (v2) minor changes (v3) reference added (v4) few more references added