Tunable Band Inversion in Trilayer Graphene
arXiv:2502.15232 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.111.235118
Abstract
Displacement field control of elecronic bands in low-dimensional systems is a promising route toward engineering emergent quantum phases. Here, we report displacement-field-induced band inversion and modulation of the Berry phase of low-energy quasi particles in high-mobility Bernal-stacked trilayer graphene (TLG). Using quantum oscillations, we track the evolution of the Fermi surface and topological properties of Dirac-like gully bands that emerge under a finite interlayer potential. We observe a striking sequence of transitions: at low displacement field , the gullies are characterized by a Berry phase of and large effective mass, indicating massive fermions. As increases, the Berry phase abruptly shifts to and the effective mass reaches a minimum, signaling the onset of massless Dirac behavior. At higher , the Berry phase returns to , and the effective mass increases again, consistent with a band inversion. These findings demonstrate a rare, reversible topological phase transition - massive to massless to massive - driven entirely by an external displacement field. Despite robust theoretical predictions [\textit{Phys. Rev. B} \textbf{87}, 085424 (2013), \textit{Phys. Rev. B} \textbf{87}, 115422 (2013), and \textit{Phys. Rev. B} \textbf{101}, 245411 (2020)], this evolution of the band topology had escaped experimental detection. Our results establish TLG as a tunable platform for nanoscale control of band topology. They establish a means to tune between massive and Dirac-like dispersions dynamically providing a foundation for exploring field-switchable topological phenomena in layered 2D systems.
16 pages, comments and suggestions most welcome
References in corpus (27)
- Two-Dimensional Gas of Massless Dirac Fermions in Graphene
- Experimental Observation of Quantum Hall Effect and Berry's Phase in Graphene
- Quantum Spin Hall Insulator State in HgTe Quantum Wells
- Berry Phase Effects on Electronic Properties
- Unconventional quantum Hall effect and Berry's phase of 2pi in bilayer graphene
- Edge states in Graphene: from gapped flat band to gapless chiral modes
- Trigonal warping and Berry's phase N pi in ABC-stacked multilayer graphene
- Phase analysis of quantum oscillations in graphite
- The experimental observation of quantum Hall effect of l = 3 chiral charge carriers in trilayer graphene
- Quantum cascade of new correlated phases in trigonally warped bilayer graphene
- Topological phase transition in chiral graphene nanoribbons: from edge bands to end states
- Berry Phase and Pseudospin Winding Number in Bilayer Graphene
- Anomalous sequence of quantum Hall liquids revealing tunable Lifshitz transition in bilayer graphene
- Electron energy spectrum and the Berry phase in graphite bilayer
- Emergent Dirac gullies and gully-symmetry breaking quantum Hall states in ABA trilayer graphene
- New Dirac points and multiple Landau level crossings in biased trilayer graphene
- Electric-field-tunable valley Zeeman effect in bilayer graphene heterostructures: Realization of the spin-orbit valve effect
- Imaging de Haas-van Alphen quantum oscillations and milli-Tesla pseudomagnetic fields
- Magnetic spectrum of trigonally warped bilayer graphene - semiclassical analysis, zero modes, and topological winding numbers
- Trigonal Warping in Bilayer Graphene: Energy versus Entanglement Spectrum
- Gate-induced Dirac cones in multilayer graphenes
- Experimental observation of spin-split energy dispersion in high-mobility single-layer graphene/WSe2 heterostructures
- Modifications of the Lifshitz-Kosevich formula in two-dimensional Dirac systems
- Universality of Quantum Phase Transitions in the Integer and Fractional Quantum Hall Regimes
- Non-trivial quantum oscillation geometric phase shift in a trivial band
- Gully quantum Hall ferromagnetism in biased trilayer graphene
- Switching spin filling sequence in a bilayer graphene quantum dot through trigonal warping