Electric field control of soliton motion and stacking in trilayer graphene.
The crystal structure of a material plays an important role in determining its electronic properties. Changing from one crystal structure to another involves a phase transition that is usually controlled by a state variable such as temperature or pressure. In the case of trilayer graphene, there are two common stacking configurations (Bernal and rhombohedral) that exhibit very different electronic properties. In graphene flakes with both stacking configurations, the region between them consists of a localized strain soliton where the carbon atoms of one graphene layer shift by the carbon-carbon bond distance. Here we show the ability to move this strain soliton with a perpendicular electric field and hence control the stacking configuration of trilayer graphene with only an external voltage. Moreover, we find that the free-energy difference between the two stacking configurations scales quadratically with electric field, and thus rhombohedral stacking is favoured as the electric field increases. This ability to control the stacking order in graphene opens the way to new devices that combine structural and electrical properties.
Physics Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
Matthew
M
Yankowitz
1] Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA [2] School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Joel I-Jan
JI
Wang
Sensors and Electron Devices Directorate, US Army Research Laboratory, Adelphi, Maryland 20783, USA.
A Glen
AG
Birdwell
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Yu-An
YA
Chen
National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan.
K
K
Watanabe
National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-0044, Japan.
T
T
Taniguchi
1] Physics Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA [2].
Philippe
P
Jacquod
Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid (ICMM-CSIC), Cantoblanco, 28049 Madrid, Spain.
Pablo
P
San-Jose
Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
Pablo
P
Jarillo-Herrero
Physics Department, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona 85721, USA.
Brian J
BJ
LeRoy