Tunable edge magnetism at graphene/graphane interfaces

We study the magnetic properties of graphene edges and graphene/graphane interfaces under the influence of electrostatic gates. For this an effective one-dimensional low-energy theory for the edge states, which is derived from the Hubbard model of the honeycomb lattice, is used. We first study the edge-state model in a mean-field approximation for the Hubbard Hamiltonian and show that it reproduces the results of the two-dimensional lattice theory. Quantum fluctuations around the mean-field theory of the effective one-dimensional model are treated by means of the bosonization technique in order to check the stability of the mean-field solution. We find that edge magnetism at graphene/graphane interfaces can be switched on and off by means of electrostatic gates. We describe a quantum phase transition between an ordinary and a ferromagnetic Luttinger liquid—a realization of itinerant one-dimensional ferromagnetism. This effect may provide means to experimentally discriminate between edge magnetism or disorder as the reason for a transport gap in very clean graphene nanoribbons. ©2010 The American Physical Society