Study on the high spectral intensity at the Dirac energy of single-layer graphene on an SiC substrate

We have investigated electron band structure of epitaxially grown graphene on an SiC(0001) substrate using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. In single-layer graphene, abnormal high spectral intensity is observed at the Dirac energy whose origin has been questioned between in-gap states induced by the buffer layer and plasmaron bands induced by electron-plasmon interactions. With the formation of double-layer graphene, the Dirac energy does not show the high spectral intensity any longer different from the single-layer case. The inconsistency between the two systems suggests that the main ingredient of the high spectral intensity at the Dirac energy of single-layer graphene is the electronic states originating from the coupling of the graphene $\pi$ bands to the localized $\pi$ states of the buffer layer, consistent with the theoretical prediction on the presence of in-gap states.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure

Quasi-Freestanding Multilayer Graphene Films on the Carbon Face of SiC

The electronic band structure of as-grown and doped graphene grown on the carbon face of SiC is studied by high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, where we observe both rotations between adjacent layers and AB-stacking. The band structure of quasi-freestanding AB- bilayers is directly compared with bilayer graphene grown on the Si-face of SiC to study the impact of the substrate on the electronic properties of epitaxial graphene. Our results show that the C-face films are nearly freestanding from an electronic point of view, due to the rotations between graphene layers.Comment: http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.24141

Direct measurement of quantum phases in graphene via photoemission spectroscopy

Quantum phases provide us with important information for understanding the fundamental properties of a system. However, the observation of quantum phases, such as Berry's phase and the sign of the matrix element of the Hamiltonian between two non-equivalent localized orbitals in a tight-binding formalism, has been challenged by the presence of other factors, e.g., dynamic phases and spin/valley degeneracy, and the absence of methodology. Here, we report a new way to directly access these quantum phases, through polarization-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), using graphene as a prototypical two-dimensional material. We show that the momentum- and polarization-dependent spectral intensity provides direct measurements of (i) the phase of the band wavefunction and (ii) the sign of matrix elements for non-equivalent orbitals. Upon rotating light polarization by \pi/2, we found that graphene with a Berry's phase of n\pi (n=1 for single- and n=2 for double-layer graphene for Bloch wavefunction in the commonly used form) exhibits the rotation of ARPES intensity by \pi/n, and that ARPES signals reveal the signs of the matrix elements in both single- and double-layer graphene. The method provides a new technique to directly extract fundamental quantum electronic information on a variety of materials.Comment: 12 pages and 8 figure

Temperature-Dependent Electron-Electron Interaction in Graphene on SrTiO3

The electron band structure of graphene on SrTiO3 substrate has been investigated as a function of temperature. The high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission study reveals that the spectral width at Fermi energy and the Fermi velocity of graphene on SrTiO3 are comparable to those of graphene on a BN substrate. Near the charge neutrality, the energy-momentum dispersion of graphene exhibits a strong deviation from the well-known linearity, which is magnified as temperature decreases. Such modification resembles the characteristics of enhanced electron-electron interaction. Our results not only suggest that SrTiO3 can be a plausible candidate as a substrate material for applications in graphene-based electronics, but also provide a possible route towards the realization of a new type of strongly correlated electron phases in the prototypical two-dimensional system via the manipulation of temperature and a proper choice of dielectric substrates.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

The stability of graphene band structures against an external periodic perturbation; Na on Graphene

We report that the $\pi$ band of graphene sensitively changes as a function of an external potential induced by Na especially when the potential becomes periodic at low temperature. We have measured the band structures from the graphene layers formed on the 6H-SiC(0001) substrate using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with synchrotron photons. With increasing Na dose, the $\pi$ band appears to be quickly diffused into background at 85 K whereas it becomes significantly enhanced its spectral intensity at room temperature (RT). A new parabolic band centered at $k\sim$1.15 \AA$^{-1}$ also forms near Fermi energy with Na at 85 K while no such a band observed at RT. Such changes in the band structure are found to be reversible with temperature. Analysis based on our first principles calculations suggests that the changes of the $\pi$ band of graphene be mainly driven by the Na-induced potential especially at low temperature where the potential becomes periodic due to the crystallized Na overlayer. The new parabolic band turns to be the $\pi$ band of the underlying buffer layer partially filled by the charge transfer from Na adatoms. The five orders of magnitude increased hopping rate of Na adatoms at RT preventing such a charge transfer explains the absence of the new band at RT.Comment: 6 pages and 6 figure

Many-body interactions in quasi-freestanding graphene

The Landau-Fermi liquid picture for quasiparticles assumes that charge carriers are dressed by many-body interactions, forming one of the fundamental theories of solids. Whether this picture still holds for a semimetal like graphene at the neutrality point, i.e., when the chemical potential coincides with the Dirac point energy, is one of the long-standing puzzles in this field. Here we present such a study in quasi-freestanding graphene by using high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. We see the electron-electron and electron-phonon interactions go through substantial changes when the semimetallic regime is approached, including renormalizations due to strong electron-electron interactions with similarities to marginal Fermi liquid behavior. These findings set a new benchmark in our understanding of many-body physics in graphene and a variety of novel materials with Dirac fermions.Comment: PNAS 2011 ; published ahead of print June 27, 201

Ytterbium-driven strong enhancement of electron-phonon coupling in graphene

We present high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy study in conjunction with first principles calculations to investigate how the interaction of electrons with phonons in graphene is modified by the presence of Yb. We find that the transferred charges from Yb to the graphene layer hybridize with the graphene $\pi$ bands, leading to a strong enhancement of the electron-phonon interaction. Specifically, the electron-phonon coupling constant is increased by as much as a factor of 10 upon the introduction of Yb with respect to as grown graphene ($\leq$0.05). The observed coupling constant constitutes the highest value ever measured for graphene and suggests that the hybridization between graphene and the adatoms might be a critical parameter in realizing superconducting graphene.Comment: 7 pages and 6 figure

Gapped Nearly Free-Standing Graphene on an SiC(0001) Substrate Induced by Manganese Atoms

The electron band structure of manganese-adsorbed graphene on an SiC(0001) substrate has been studied using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Upon introducing manganese atoms, the conduction band of graphene completely disappears and the valence band maximum is observed at 0.4 eV below Fermi energy. At the same time, the slope of the valence band decreases, approaching the electron band structure calculated using the local density approximation method. While the former provides experimental evidence of the formation of nearly free-standing graphene on an SiC substrate, concomitant with a metal-to-insulator transition, the latter suggests that its electronic correlations can be modified by foreign atoms. These results pave the way for promising device applications using graphene that is semiconducting and charge neutral.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figure

Photoelectron spin-flipping and texture manipulation in a topological insulator

Recently discovered materials called three-dimensional topological insulators constitute examples of symmetry protected topological states in the absence of applied magnetic fields and cryogenic temperatures. A hallmark characteristic of these non-magnetic bulk insulators is the protected metallic electronic states confined to the material's surfaces. Electrons in these surface states are spin polarized with their spins governed by their direction of travel (linear momentum), resulting in a helical spin texture in momentum space. Spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (spin-ARPES) has been the only tool capable of directly observing this central feature with simultaneous energy, momentum, and spin sensitivity. By using an innovative photoelectron spectrometer with a high-flux laser-based light source, we discovered another surprising property of these surface electrons which behave like Dirac fermions. We found that the spin polarization of the resulting photoelectrons can be fully manipulated in all three dimensions through selection of the light polarization. These surprising effects are due to the spin-dependent interaction of the helical Dirac fermions with light, which originates from the strong spin-orbit coupling in the material. Our results illustrate unusual scenarios in which the spin polarization of photoelectrons is completely different from the spin state of electrons in the originating initial states. The results also provide the basis for a novel source of highly spin-polarized electrons with tunable polarization in three dimensions.Comment: 24 pages, 9 Figures. To appear in Nature Physic