Book Description

Dirac cones are ubiquitous to non-trivial quantum matter and are expected to boost and reshape the field of modern electronics. Particularly relevant examples where these cones arise are topological insulators and graphene. From a fundamental perspective, this thesis proposes schemes towards modifying basic properties of these cones in the aforementioned materials. The thesis begins with a brief historical introduction which is followed by an extensive chapter that endows the reader with the basic tools of symmetry and topology needed to understand the remaining text. The subsequent four chapters are devoted to the reshaping of Dirac cones by external fields and delta doping. At all times, the ideas discussed in the second chapter are always a guiding principle to understand the phenomena discussed in those four chapters. As a result, the thesis is cohesive and represents a major advance in our understanding of the physics of Dirac materials.