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Photo-Nernst current in graphene

Nature Physics volume 12, pages 236–239 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Photocurrent measurements provide a powerful means of studying the spatially resolved optoelectronic and electrical properties of a material or device1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Generally speaking there are two classes of mechanism for photocurrent generation: those involving separation of electrons and holes, and thermoelectric effects driven by electron temperature gradients. Here we introduce a new member in the latter class: the photo-Nernst effect. In graphene devices in a perpendicular magnetic field we observe photocurrent generated uniformly along the free edges, with opposite sign at opposite edges. The signal is antisymmetric in field, shows a peak versus gate voltage at the neutrality point flanked by wings of opposite sign at low fields, and exhibits quantum oscillations at higher fields. These features are all explained by the Nernst effect8,9,10 associated with laser-induced electron heating6,11,12,13,14. This ‘photo-Nernst’ current provides a simple and clear demonstration of the Shockley–Ramo nature of long-range photocurrent generation in a gapless material5.

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Figure 1: Scanning photocurrent microscopy (SPCM) of a two-terminal monolayer graphene device in a perpendicular magnetic field.
Figure 2: Analysis and modelling of the photocurrent induced by a moderate magnetic field.
Figure 3: Dependence of the photo-Nernst current on gate voltage.
Figure 4: Quantum oscillations in the photo-Nernst effect.

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Acknowledgements

We thank B. Spivak, A. Andreev, D. Xiao and C. Laumann for discussions. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF, DMR-1150719). The experimental set-up was partially supported by DoE BES (DE-SC0008145). Z.F. and D.H.C. are supported by DoE BES (DE-SC0002197). This material is based in part upon work supported by the State of Washington through the University of Washington Clean Energy Institute. Device fabrication was performed at the University of Washington Microfabrication Facility and the NSF-funded Nanotech User Facility.

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Author notes

  1. Helin Cao and Grant Aivazian: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

    Helin Cao, Grant Aivazian, Zaiyao Fei, David H. Cobden & Xiaodong Xu

  2. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195, USA

    Jason Ross & Xiaodong Xu

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  1. Helin Cao
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  2. Grant Aivazian
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  3. Zaiyao Fei
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  5. David H. Cobden
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  6. Xiaodong Xu
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Contributions

X.X. conceived the experiment; G.A. built the experimental set-up; H.C. performed the experiments, assisted by G.A.; H.C., Z.F. and J.R. fabricated the devices; H.C., X.X., D.H.C. and Z.F. analysed the results; Z.F. and D.H.C. did the modelling; and H.C., D.H.C. and X.X. wrote the paper with comments from all authors.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to David H. Cobden or Xiaodong Xu.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Cao, H., Aivazian, G., Fei, Z. et al. Photo-Nernst current in graphene. Nature Phys 12, 236–239 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys3549

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