Image potential states as quantum probe of graphene interfaces

Abstract

Image potential states (IPSs) are electronic states localized in front of a surface in a potential well formed by the surface projected bulk band gap on one side and the image potential barrier on the other. In the limit of a two-dimensional solid a double Rydberg series of IPSs has been predicted which is in contrast to a single series present in three-dimensional solids. Here, we confirm this prediction experimentally for mono- and bilayer graphene. The IPSs of epitaxial graphene on SiC are measured by scanning tunnelling spectroscopy and the results are compared to ab-initio band structure calculations. Despite the presence of the substrate, both calculations and experimental measurements show that the first pair of the double series of IPSs survives, and eventually evolves into a single series for graphite. Thus, IPSs provide an elegant quantum probe of the interfacial coupling in graphene systems.

Accepted for publication in New Journal of Physics

References in corpus (7)

• Electric Field Effect in Atomically Thin Carbon Films
• Strong suppression of weak (anti)localization in graphene
• Epitaxial graphene
• Microscopic thickness determination of thin graphite films formed on SiC from quantized oscillation in reflectivity of low-energy electrons
• Electron states of mono- and bilayer graphene on SiC probed by STM
• Quasiparticle Chirality in Epitaxial Graphene Probed at the Nanometer Scale
• Role of the electric field in surface electron dynamics above the vacuum level

Cited by in corpus (12)

• Mapping Image Potential States on Graphene Quantum Dots
• Trapping Surface Electrons on Graphene Layers and Islands
• Nanoscale probing of image-potential states and electron transfer doping in borophene polymorphs
• Graphene based quantum dots
• Joule meets van der Waals: Mechanical dissipation via image potential states on a topological insulator surface
• Formation of image-potential states at the graphene/metal interface
• Modification of electronic surface states by graphene islands on Cu(111)
• Topological Phase Transition Induced by Image Potential States in MXenes: A Theoretical Investigation
• Electronic structure of graphene: (nearly) free electrons bands vs. tight-binding bands
• Control of multiple excited image states around segmented carbon nanotubes
• Symmetry of electron bands in graphene: (nearly) free electron vs. tight-binding
• Image-potential states on a 2D Gr-ferromagnet hybrid: enhancing spin and stacking sensing