Zero Energy Modes and Gate-Tunable Gap in Graphene on hexagonal Boron Nitride
arXiv:1205.3194 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.86.115415
Abstract
In this Letter, we derive an effective theory of graphene on a hexagonal Boron Nitride (h-BN) substrate. We show that the h-BN substrate generically opens a spectral gap in graphene despite the lattice mismatch. The origin of that gap is particularly intuitive in the regime of strong coupling between graphene and its substrate, when the low-energy physics is determined by the topology of a network of zero energy modes. For twisted graphene bilayers, where inversion symmetry is present, this network percolates through the system and the spectrum is gapless. The breaking of that symmetry by h-BN causes the zero energy modes to close into rings. The eigenstates of these rings hybridize into flat bands with gaps in between. The size of this band gap can be tuned by a gate voltage and it can reach the order of magnitude needed to confine electrons at room temperature.
4.1 pages, 4 figures
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Cited by in corpus (28)
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- Electronic properties of graphene hexagonal boron nitride moiré superlattice
- Band structure and topological property of twisted double bilayer graphenes
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- Spontaneous Strains and Gap in Graphene on Boron Nitride
- Composite Fermions and Broken Symmetries in Graphene
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- Coherent tunneling and negative differential conductivity in graphene-hBN-graphene heterostructure
- Moire pattern as a magnifying glass for strain and dislocations in van der Waals heterostructures
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- Topological charge pumping by sliding moiré pattern
- Midgap states and band gap modification in defective graphene/h-BN heterostructures
- Edge modes and non local conductance in graphene superlattices
- Current partition at zero-line intersection of quantum anomalous Hall topologies
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- Interlayer Transport through a Graphene / Rotated-Boron-Nitride / Graphene Heterostructure
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- Transport in graphene nanostructures with spatially modulated gap and potential
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