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Xian-Zhang Chen

chenxzheit@163.com xzchen@eitech.edu.cn

Research

I have an interest in a deeper understanding of wavefunctions in graphene. The wavefunction is one of the most crucial fundamental concepts in quantum mechanics, which rich physical implications have been extensively debated in the areas of quantum chaos and quantum transport. Graphene has been a focus of experimental and theoretical physics for almost two decades, due to its high mobility at room temperature and the fact that its low-energy quasiparticles can be described by the massless Dirac equation. Consequently, it is important to detect and study the wavefunction properties in graphene. I prefer to do theoretical and numerical analysis that is closely related to experiments, and primarily examine scanning gate microscopy (SGM), magnetic transport, and many-body spectral statistics related to the wavefunction in graphene.

Wavefunction-related Quantum Transport in Graphene

The state of a microscopic particle in quantum mechanics can be represented by a wavefunction, and the square of its amplitude represents the probability of finding a particle at that location. For open quantum systems, the probability density of particles present in a small region can be calculated by the wave function to obtain the local density of states (LDOS) of particles. As an important physical quantity describing the behavior of electrons in graphene, the wavefunction has significant implications for understanding the differences between relativistic Dirac fermions in graphene and the behavior of two-dimensional electron gases described by the Schrödinger equation in traditional systems. The focus of this research project is primarily twofold: firstly, the detection of LDOS in graphene, and secondly, the impact of LDOS on the magnetic transport of graphene quantum dots.

Related papers: Phys. Rev. B 107, 085420 (2023); Phys. Rev. B 101, 085404 (2020)

Many-body spectral statistics of graphene billiards

Most studies in the field of quantum chaos are focused on single-particle non-relativistic systems, making the investigation of the relationship between many-body interactions, relativistic quantum mechanics, and classical dynamics highly valuable. Therefore, we will study the behavior of wavefunctions and the corresponding energy spectra in graphene billiards considering many-body interactions in the mean-field approximation.

Related papers: Phys. Rev. Research 5, 013050 (2023)