Aharonov-Bohm interferences from local deformations in graphene

TL;DR

This paper proposes a nanoscale device utilizing scanning tunneling microscopy to detect microstresses in graphene by observing Aharonov-Bohm interferences caused by strain-induced fictitious magnetic fields.

Contribution

It introduces a novel method to measure local elastic deformations in graphene through interference patterns in electronic density of states.

Findings

Fictitious magnetic fields arise from elastic deformations in graphene.

Scanning tunneling microscopy can detect strain-induced Aharonov-Bohm interferences.

The device enables nanoscale stress measurement in graphene samples.

Abstract

One of the most interesting aspects of graphene is the tied relation between structural and electronic properties. The observation of ripples in the graphene samples both free standing and on a substrate has given rise to a very active investigation around the membrane-like properties of graphene and the origin of the ripples remains as one of the most interesting open problems in the system. The interplay of structural and electronic properties is successfully described by the modelling of curvature and elastic deformations by fictitious gauge fields that have become an ex- perimental reality after the suggestion that Landau levels can form associated to strain in graphene and the subsequent experimental confirmation. Here we propose a device to detect microstresses in graphene based on a scanning-tunneling-microscopy setup able to measure Aharonov-Bohm inter- ferences at the nanometer scale. The interferences to be observed in the local density of states are created by the fictitious magnetic field associated to elastic deformations of the sample.