Theory of defect dynamics in graphene: defect groupings and their stability

Abstract

We use our theory of periodized discrete elasticity to characterize defects in graphene as the cores of dislocations or groups of dislocations. Earlier numerical implementations of the theory predicted some of the simpler defect groupings observed in subsequent Transmission Electron Microscope experiments. Here, we derive the more complicated defect groupings of three or four defect pairs from our theory, show that they correspond to the cores of two pairs of dislocation dipoles and ascertain their stability.