Abstract. We compute the optical conductivity for an out-of-plane deformation in graphene using an approach based on solutions of the Dirac equation in curved space. Different examples of periodic deformations along one direction translates into an enhancement of the optical conductivity peaks in the region of the far and mid infrared frequencies for periodicities ∼ 100 nm. The width and position of the peaks can be changed by dialling the parameters of the deformation profiles. The enhancement of the optical conductivity is due to intraband transitions and the translational invariance breaking in the geometrically deformed background. Furthemore, we derive an analytical solution of the Dirac equation in a curved space for a general deformation along one spatial direction. For this class of geometries, it is shown that curvature induces an extra phase in the electron wave function, which can also be explored to produce interference devices of the Aharonov-Bohm type.

An ab initio study of β-As 2 Te 3 (R 3m symmetry) at hydrostatic pressures shows that this compound is a trivial small band-gap semiconductor at room pressure that undergoes a quantum topological phase transition to a 3D topological Dirac semimetal around 2 GPa. At higher pressures, the band gap reopens and again decreases above 4 GPa. Our calculations predict an insulator-metal transition above 6 GPa due to the closing of the band gap, with strong topological features persisting between 2 and 10 GPa with Z 4 = 3 topological index. By investigating the lattice thermal conductivity (κ L ), we observe that close to room conditions κ L is very low, either for the in-plane and the out-of-plane axis, with 0.098 and 0.023 Wm −1 K −1 , respectively. This effect occurs due to the presence of two low-frequency optical modes, namely E u and E g , which increase the phonon-phonon scattering rate. Therefore, our results suggest that ultralow lattice thermal conductivities, which enable highly efficient thermoelectric materials, can be engineered in systems that are close to a structural instability derived from phonon Kohn anomalies. At higher pressures, the values of the in-and out-of-plane thermal conductivities not only increase in magnitude, but also approximate in value as the layered character of the compound decreases.

Effects of impurities and disorder on quasiparticle spectrum in superconducting iron pnictides are considered. Possibility for occurrence of localized energy levels due to impurities within the superconducting gap and the related modification of band structure and of superconducting order parameter are discussed. The evolution of superconducting state with impurity doping is traced.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

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Formation of localized impurity levels within the band gap in bigraphene under applied electric field is considered and the conditions for their collectivization at finite impurity concentration are established. It is shown that a qualitative restructuring of quasiparticle spectrum within the initial band gap and then specific metal-insulator phase transitions are possible for such disordered system at given impurity perturbation potential and concentration, such processes being effectively controlled by variation of the electric field bias. Since these effects can be expected at low enough impurity concentrations and accessible applied voltages, being stable enough thermically, they can be promising for practical applications in nanoelectronics devices.