Abstract
Layer-stacking domain walls in bilayer graphene are emerging as a fascinating one-dimensional system1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11 that features stacking solitons1,2,3,4 structurally and quantum valley Hall boundary states5,6,7,8,9,10,11 electronically. The interactions between electrons in the 2D graphene domains and the one-dimensional domain-wall solitons can lead to further new quantum phenomena. Domain-wall solitons of varied local structures exist along different crystallographic orientations1,2,12,13, which can exhibit distinct electrical, mechanical and optical properties. Here we report soliton-dependent 2D graphene plasmon reflection at different 1D domain-wall solitons in bilayer graphene using near-field infrared nanoscopy. We observe various domain-wall structures in mechanically exfoliated graphene bilayers, including network-forming triangular lattices, individual straight or bent lines, and even closed circles. The near-field infrared contrast of domain-wall solitons arises from plasmon reflection at domain walls, and exhibits markedly different behaviours at the tensile- and shear-type domain-wall solitons. In addition, the plasmon reflection at domain walls exhibits a peculiar dependence on electrostatic gating. Our study demonstrates the unusual and tunable coupling between 2D graphene plasmons and domain-wall solitons.
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Acknowledgements
The near-field infrared nanoscopy measurements and plasmon analysis are supported by the Office of Basic Energy Science, Department of Energy under contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231 (Sub-wavelength Metamaterial programme). The bilayer graphene domain-wall sample preparation and characterization are supported by the Office of Naval Research award No. N00014-15-1-2651 (device fabrication and characterization) and the National Science Foundation award No. DMR-1206512 (sample preparation). L.Jiang acknowledges support from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. T.J. acknowledges support from the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program under Grant No. DGE 1106400.
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F.W. and Z.S. conceived the project. L.Jiang, Z.S., T.J., B.Z. and L.Ju performed the near-field infrared measurements. C.J. and J.K. prepared the samples. L.Jiang, Z.S., S.W., J.-H.K., T.L. and F.W. analyse the data. All authors discussed the results and contributed to writing the manuscript.
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Jiang, L., Shi, Z., Zeng, B. et al. Soliton-dependent plasmon reflection at bilayer graphene domain walls. Nature Mater 15, 840–844 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4653
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4653
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