Topological valley transport at the curved boundary of a folded bilayer graphene

Abstract

The development of valleytronics demands long-range electronic transport with preserved valley index, a degree of freedom similar to electron spin. A promising structure for this end is a topological one-dimensional (1D) channel formed in bilayer graphene (BLG) under special electrostatic conditions or specific stacking configuration, called domain wall (DW). In these 1D channels, the valley-index defines the propagation direction of the charge carriers and the chiral edge states (kink states) are robust over many kinds of disorder. However, the fabrication of DWs is challenging, requiring the design of complex multi-gate structures or have been producing on rough substrates, showing a limited mean free path. Here, we report on a high-quality DW formed at the curved boundary of folded bilayer graphene (folded-BLG). At such 1D conducting channel we measured a two-terminal resistance close to the quantum resistance $R=e^2/4h$ at zero magnetic field, a signature of kink states. Our experiments reveal a long-range ballistic transport regime that occurs only at the DW of the folded-BLG, while the other regions behave like semiconductors with tunable band gap.

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