z -> -z Symmetry of Spin-Orbit Coupling and Weak Localization in Graphene

McCann, Edward and Falko, Vladimir (2012) z -> -z Symmetry of Spin-Orbit Coupling and Weak Localization in Graphene. Physical review letters, 108 (16): 166606. -. ISSN 0031-9007

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Abstract

We show that the influence of spin-orbit (SO) coupling on the weak-localization effect for electrons in graphene depends on the lack or presence of z -> -z symmetry in the system. While, for z -> -z asymmetric SO coupling, disordered graphene should display a weak antilocalization behavior at lowest temperature, z -> -z symmetric coupling leads to an effective saturation of decoherence time which can be partially lifted by an in-plane magnetic field, thus tending to restore the weak-localization effect.