Decay behavior of localized states at reconstructed armchair graphene edges

Abstract: Density functional theory calculations are used to investigate the electronic structures of localized states at reconstructed armchair graphene edges. We consider graphene nanoribbons with two different edge types and obtain the energy band structures and charge densities of the edge states. By examining the imaginary part of the wavevector in the forbidden energy region, we reveal the decay behavior of the wavefunctions in graphene. The complex band structures of graphene in the armchair and zigzag directions are presented in both tight-binding and first-principles frameworks.