Graphene with Spin-Orbit Coupling: Transport and Wave Packet Dynamics in presence of Barriers

I will be discussing some interesting phenomena that arise when we consider Spin-Orbit (S-O)
coupling (of two kinds - Kane-Mele and Rashba) in Graphene. An interface of such S-O coupled
graphene with its pristine counterpart has robust chiral edge modes in spite of the gapless nature
of the pristine graphene. Such junctions also have interesting transport and spin-conversion
properties. I will also discuss the role played by periodic barriers in modifying the spectrum of S-O
coupled graphene. Finally, I will talk about the combined effect of S-O couplings and periodic
potentials on the propagation of wave packets, focusing on the special case when the strengths
of the Kane-Mele and Rashba S-O couplings are equal.