2D Materials 8, 035039(2021)
Coupled nanomechanical resonators are interesting for both fundamental studies and practical applications as they offer rich and tunable oscillation dynamics. At present, the mechanical coupling in such systems is often mediated by a fixed geometry, such as a joint clamping point of the resonators or a displacement-dependent force. Here we show a graphene-integrated electromechanical system consisting of two physically separated mechanical resonators—a hybrid graphene comb-drive actuator system and a suspended silicon beam—that are tunably coupled by the integrated graphene membrane. The graphene membrane, moreover, provides a sensitive electrical read-out for the two resonating systems showing 16 different modes in the frequency range from 0.4 to 24 MHz. In addition, by pulling on the graphene membrane with an electrostatic potential applied to silicon beam resonator, we control the mechanical coupling, quantified by the g-factor, from 20 kHz to 100 kHz. Our results pave the way for coupled nanoelectromechanical systems requiring controllable mechanically coupled resonators.

Nano Lett. 21, 2898 (2021)
We explore the tunability of the phonon polarization in suspended uniaxially strained graphene by magneto-phonon resonances. The uniaxial strain lifts the degeneracy of the LO and TO phonons, yielding two cross-linearly polarized phonon modes and a splitting of the Raman G peak. We utilize the strong electron–phonon coupling in graphene and the off-resonant coupling to a magneto-phonon resonance to induce a gate-tunable circular phonon dichroism. This, together with the strain-induced splitting of the G peak, allows us to controllably tune the two linearly polarized G mode phonons into circular phonon modes. We are able to achieve a circular phonon polarization of up to 40% purely by electrostatic fields and can reverse its sign by tuning from electron to hole doping. This provides unprecedented electrostatic control over the angular momentum of phonons, which paves the way toward phononic applications.

J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 54, 225304 (2021)
We discuss how the emission of electrons and ions during electron-beam-induced physical vapor deposition can cause problems in micro- and nanofabrication processes. After giving a short overview of different types of radiation emitted from an electron-beam (e-beam) evaporator and how the amount of radiation depends on different deposition parameters and conditions, we highlight two phenomena in more detail: First, we discuss an unintentional shadow evaporation beneath the undercut of a resist layer caused by the one part of the metal vapor which got ionized by electron-impact ionization. These ions first lead to an unintentional build-up of charges on the sample, which in turn results in an electrostatic deflection of subsequently incoming ionized metal atoms toward the undercut of the resist. Second, we show how low-energy secondary electrons during the metallization process can cause cross-linking, blisters, and bubbles in the respective resist layer used for defining micro- and nanostructures in an e-beam lithography process. After the metal deposition, the cross-linked resist may lead to significant problems in the lift-off process and causes leftover residues on the device. We provide a troubleshooting guide on how to minimize these effects, which e.g. includes the correct alignment of the e-beam, the avoidance of contaminations in the crucible and, most importantly, the installation of deflector electrodes within the evaporation chamber.

Appl. Phys. Lett. 118, 103101 (2021)
We present a highly controllable double quantum dot device based on bilayer graphene. Using a device architecture of interdigitated gate fingers, we can control the interdot tunnel coupling between 1 and 4 GHz and the mutual capacitive coupling between 0.2 and 0.6 meV, independent of the charge occupation of the quantum dots. The charging energy and, hence, the dot size remain nearly unchanged. The tuning range of the tunnel coupling covers the operating regime of typical silicon and GaAs spin qubit devices.

Appl. Phys. Lett. 118, 093104 (2021)
We demonstrate dispersive readout of individual charge states in a gate-defined few-electron quantum dot in bilayer graphene. We employ a radio frequency reflectometry circuit, where an LC resonator with a resonance frequency close to 280 MHz is directly coupled to an Ohmic contact of the quantum dot device. The detection scheme based on changes in the quantum capacitance operates over a wide gate-voltage range and allows us to probe excited states down to the single-electron regime. Crucially, the presented sensing technique avoids the use of an additional, capacitively coupled quantum device such as a quantum point contact or single electron transistor, making dispersive sensing particularly interesting for gate-defined graphene quantum dots.

Phys. Rev. B 103, L081404 (2021)
Graphene and bilayer graphene quantum dots are promising hosts for spin qubits with long coherence times. Although recent technological improvements make it possible to confine single electrons electrostatically in bilayer graphene quantum dots and their spin and valley texture of the single-particle spectrum has been studied in detail, their relaxation dynamics remains still unexplored. Here, we report on transport through a high-frequency gate-controlled single-electron bilayer graphene quantum dot. By transient current spectroscopy of single-electron spin states, we extract a lower bound of the spin relaxation time of 0.5 μs. This result represents an important step towards the investigation of spin coherence times in graphene-based quantum dots and the implementation of spin qubits.

ACS Photonics 8, 418 (2021)
Here we directly probe the electronic properties of bilayer graphene using s-SNOM measurements with a broadly tunable laser source over the energy range from 0.3 to 0.54 eV. We tune an OPO/OPA system around the interband resonance of Bernal stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) and extract amplitude and phase of the scattered light. This enables us to retrieve and reconstruct the complex optical conductivity resonance in BLG around 0.39 eV with nanoscale resolution. Our technique opens the door toward nanoscopic noncontact measurements of the electronic properties in complex hybrid 2D and van der Waals material systems, where scanning tunneling spectroscopy cannot access the decisive layers.