Localization and the Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in disordered graphene

Phys Rev Lett. 2009 Mar 13;102(10):106401. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.102.106401. Epub 2009 Mar 10.

Abstract

We investigate disordered graphene with strong long-range impurities. Contrary to the common belief that delocalization should persist in such a system against any disorder, as the system is expected to be equivalent to a disordered two-dimensional Dirac fermionic system, we find that states near the Dirac points are localized for sufficiently strong disorder (therefore inevitable intervalley scattering) and the transition between the localized and delocalized states is of Kosterlitz-Thouless type. Our results show that the transition originates from bounding and unbounding of local current vortices.