Effective numbers of charge carriers in doped graphene: The generalized Fermi liquid approach

Abstract

The single-band current-dipole Kubo formula for the dynamical conductivity of heavily doped graphene from Kupčić [Phys. Rev. B 91, 205428 (2015)] is extended to a two-band model for conduction $π$ electrons in lightly doped graphene. Using a posteriori relaxation-time approximation in the two-band quantum transport equations, with two different relaxation rates and one quasi-particle lifetime, we explain a seemingly inconsistent dependence of the dc conductivity $σ^{\rm dc}_{αα}$ of ultraclean and dirty lightly doped graphene samples on electron doping, in a way consistent with the charge continuity equation. It is also shown that the intraband contribution to the effective number of conduction electrons in $σ^{\rm dc}_{αα}$ vanishes at $T=0$ K in the ultraclean regime, but it remains finite in the dirty regime. The present model is shown to be consistent with a picture in which the intraband and interband contributions to $σ^{\rm dc}_{αα}$ are characterized by two different mobilities of conduction electrons, the values of which are well below the widely accepted value of mobility in ultraclean graphene. The dispersions of Dirac and $π$ plasmon resonances are reexamined to show that the present, relatively simple expression for the dynamical conductivity tensor can be used to study simultaneously single-particle excitations in the dc and optical conductivity and collective excitations in energy loss spectroscopy experiments.

13 pages, 11 figures