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Associate Professor
Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience
Quantum Physics Laboratory
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Email: samuel.lara@chalmers.se
Phone: +46 73 521 80 83
Office: MC2, room D518
Homepage: www.chalmers.se/en/staff/Pages/Samuel-Lara-Avila.aspx
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Research focus:
Fabrication and study of low-dimensional systems with focus on electron transport properties. Test beds include single molecules, metallic nanoparticles, and 2D materials.
Experimental methods:
Microfabrication in cleanroom environment, growth & characterization of 2D materials by various methods such a s scanning probe, optical and electron microscopy. Characterization of electron transport properties at low temperatures and in weak/strong magnetic fields.
Focus of future research:
- Novel two dimensional systems, from growth to applications
- Epitaxial graphene for metrology, sensing and electronics
- Energy harvesting with low dimensional materials
Highlights of previous research:
Description of a spin relaxation mechanism in graphene that had gone unnoticed in previous studies- spin-flip scattering of electron from spinful impurities. Understanding of such kinds of spin relaxation dynamics is key to implement future spintronic devices.
S. Lara-Avila et al. "Influence of impurity spin dynamics on quantum transport in epitaxial graphene Proposal for dark exciton-based chemical sensors", Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 106602 (2015)
A nonmonotonic dependence of the effective decoherence rate on
parallel magnetic fields reveals the intricate role of the scatterers’
spin dynamics in forming the interference correction to the conductivity,
an effect that has gone unnoticed in earlier weak localization studies.
Doping of graphene using e.g. photoactive polymers as a working principle of novel devices based on 2D materials
S. Lara-Avila et al. " Non‐Volatile Photochemical Gating of an Epitaxial Graphene/Polymer Heterostructure"
Adv. Mat. 23, 878 (2011)
Polymer bilayer (spacer/photoactive layer) leads to tuning the
carrier density of graphene while keeping carrier mobility high