Localization of Dirac Electrons in Rotated Graphene Bilayers

Guy Trambly de Laissardière (1) , Didier Mayou (2) , Laurence Magaud (3)

1 LPTM - UMR 8089 - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique et Modélisation
2 NEEL - OPTIMA - Optique et Matériaux
3 NEEL - Quan2m - Interactions modulables dans des états quantiques 2D

For Dirac electrons the Klein paradox implies that the confinement is difficult to achieve with an electrostatic potential although it can be of great importance for graphene-based devices. Here, ab initio and tight-binding approaches are combined and show that the wave function of Dirac electrons can be localized in rotated graphene bilayers due to the Moire pattern. This localization of wave function is maximum in the limit of the small rotation angle between the two layers.

Mots clés: Graphene; graphite; Moire pattern; electron localization; ab initio; tight binding

Domaines: Science des matériaux [cond-mat.mtrl-sci]

Guy Trambly de Laissardière, Didier Mayou, Laurence Magaud. Localization of Dirac Electrons in Rotated Graphene Bilayers. Nano Letters, 2010, 10 (3), pp.804-808. ⟨10.1021/nl902948m⟩. ⟨hal-00381650⟩