Grain Boundaries in Graphene on SiC(0001ˉ\bar{1}) Substrate

Grain boundaries in epitaxial graphene on the SiC(000$\bar{1}$) substrate are studied using scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy. All investigated small-angle grain boundaries show pronounced out-of-plane buckling induced by the strain fields of constituent dislocations. The ensemble of observations allows to determine the critical misorientation angle of buckling transition $\theta_c = 19 \pm~2^\circ$. Periodic structures are found among the flat large-angle grain boundaries. In particular, the observed $\theta = 33\pm2^\circ$ highly ordered grain boundary is assigned to the previously proposed lowest formation energy structural motif composed of a continuous chain of edge-sharing alternating pentagons and heptagons. This periodic grain boundary defect is predicted to exhibit strong valley filtering of charge carriers thus promising the practical realization of all-electric valleytronic devices

Surface states and quasiparticle interference in Bernal and rhombohedral graphite with and without trigonal warping

We use an exact analytical technique [Phys. Rev. B 101, 115405 (2020), Phys. Rev. B 102, 165117 (2020)] to recover the surface Green's functions for Bernal (ABA) and rhombohedral (ABC) graphite. For rhombohedral graphite we recover the predicted surface flat bands. For Bernal graphite we find that the surface state spectral function is similar to the bilayer one, but the trigonal warping effects are enhanced, and the surface quasiparticles have a much shorter lifetime. We subsequently use the T-matrix formalism to study the quasiparticle interference patterns generated on the surface of semi-infinite ABA and ABC graphite in the presence of impurity scattering. We compare our predictions to experimental STM data of impurity-localized states on the surface of Bernal graphite which appear to be in a good agreement with our calculations

Visualizing the Effect of an Electrostatic Gate with Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy

[EN] Electrostatic gating is pervasive in materials science, yet its effects on the electronic band structure of materials has never been revealed directly by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES), the technique of choice to noninvasively probe the electronic band structure of a material. By means of a state-of-the-art ARPES setup with submicron spatial resolution, we have investigated a heterostructure composed of Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) on hexagonal boron nitride and deposited on a graphite flake. By voltage biasing the latter, the electric field effect is directly visualized on the valence band as well as on the carbon 1s core level of BLG. The band gap opening of BLG submitted to a transverse electric field is discussed and the importance of intra layer screening is put forward. Our results pave the way for new studies that will use momentum-resolved electronic structure information to gain insight on the physics of materials submitted to the electric field effect.ANR-14-CE08-018-05 funding “GoBN". J.V.J acknowledges support from UCOP. Atomic Force Microscope images were taken with an instrument acquired from Contract W911NF-17-1-0473 from the Army Research Office. BLG/hBN/graphite stacks were assembled in a glove box that was acquired from Contract W911NF-17-1-0473 from the Army Research Office