Zhao-Dong Chu

Strain and curvature induced evolution of electronic band structures in twisted graphene bilayer

It is well established that strain and geometry could affect the band structure of graphene monolayer dramatically. Here we study the evolution of local electronic properties of a twisted graphene bilayer induced by a strain and a high curvature, which are found to strongly affect the local band structures of the twisted graphene bilayer. The energy difference of the two low-energy van Hove singularities decreases with increasing lattice deformation and the states condensed into well-defined pseudo-Landau levels, which mimic the quantization of massive chiral fermions in a magnetic field of about 100 T, along a graphene wrinkle. The joint effect of strain and out-of-plane distortion in the graphene wrinkle also results in a valley polarization with a significant gap. These results suggest that strained graphene bilayer could be an ideal platform to realize the high-temperature zero-field quantum valley Hall effect.

Superlattice Dirac points and space-dependent Fermi velocity in a corrugated graphene monolayer

Recent studies show that periodic potentials can generate superlattice Dirac points at energies

Strain-induced one-dimensional Landau level quantization in corrugated graphene

\ifmmode\pm\else\textpm\fi{}\ensuremath{\hbar}{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\mathrm{F}}|\mathbf{G}|/2

Chiral tunneling in a twisted graphene bilayer.

in graphene (where

Angle-dependent van Hove singularities and their breakdown in twisted graphene bilayers

\ensuremath{\hbar}

Enhanced intervalley scattering of twisted bilayer graphene by periodic AB stacked atoms

is the reduced Planck constant,

Origin of room-temperature single-channel ballistic transport in zigzag graphene nanoribbons

{\ensuremath{\nu}}_{\mathrm{F}}

Angle-dependent van Hove singularities in a slightly twisted graphene bilayer.

is the Fermi velocity of graphene, and G is the reciprocal superlattice vector). Here, we perform scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy studies of a corrugated graphene monolayer on Rh foil. We show that the quasiperiodic ripples of nanometer wavelength in the corrugated graphene give rise to weak one-dimensional electronic potentials and thereby lead to the emergence of the superlattice Dirac points. The position of the superlattice Dirac point is space dependent and shows a wide distribution of values. We demonstrate that the space-dependent superlattice Dirac points are closely related to the space-dependent Fermi velocity, which may arise from the effect of the local strain and the strong electron-electron interaction in the corrugated graphene.

Tuning structures and electronic spectra of graphene layers with tilt grain boundaries

Theoretical research has predicted that ripples of graphene generates effective gauge field on its low energy electronic structure and could lead to zero-energy flat bands, which are the analog of Landau levels in real magnetic fields. Here we demonstrate, using a combination of scanning tunneling microscopy and tight-binding approximation, that the zero-energy Landau levels with vanishing Fermi velocities will form when the effective pseudomagnetic flux per ripple is larger than the flux quantum. Our analysis indicates that the effective gauge field of the ripples results in zero-energy flat bands in one direction but not in another. The Fermi velocities in the perpendicular direction of the ripples are not renormalized at all. The condition to generate the ripples is also discussed according to classical thin-film elasticity theory.

Coexistence of van Hove singularities and superlattice Dirac points in a slightly twisted graphene bilayer

The perfect transmission in a graphene monolayer and the perfect reflection in a Bernal graphene bilayer for electrons incident in the normal direction of a potential barrier are viewed as two incarnations of the Klein paradox. Here we show a new and unique incarnation of the Klein paradox. Owing to the different chiralities of the quasiparticles involved, the chiral fermions in a twisted graphene bilayer show an adjustable probability of chiral tunneling for normal incidence: they can be changed from perfect tunneling to partial or perfect reflection, or vice versa, by controlling either the height of the barrier or the incident energy. As well as addressing basic physics about how the chiral fermions with different chiralities tunnel through a barrier, our results provide a facile route to tune the electronic properties of the twisted graphene bilayer.