Interlayer screening effect in graphene multilayers with ABA and ABC stacking

TL;DR

This paper investigates how perpendicular electric fields differently influence the electronic band structures of ABA and ABC graphene multilayers, revealing distinct screening behaviors and gap-opening phenomena.

Contribution

It provides a comparative analysis of screening effects in ABA and ABC graphene multilayers under electric fields, highlighting their different electronic responses.

Findings

ABA multilayers exhibit linear screening with band overlap.

ABC multilayers develop an energy gap at low energy.

Large ABC stacks show a sharp energy gap increase beyond a critical field.

Abstract

We study the effect of perpendicular electric fields on the band structures of ABA and ABC graphene multilayers, and find that the electronic screening effect is significantly different between them. In ABA multilayers, the field produces a band overlap and gives a linear screening, while in ABC multilayers, in contrast, it opens an energy gap in the surface-state band at low energy, leading to a strong screening effect essentially non-linear to the field amplitude. The energy gap of a large ABC stack sharply rises when the external field exceeds a certain critical value.