Polarizability and Screening in Chiral Multilayer Graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates how stacking, density, and onsite energy influence the screening and polarizability in multilayer graphene, revealing distinct behaviors linked to chirality and potential quantum phases.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the static polarizability in multilayer graphene considering stacking and chirality, highlighting new insights into screening properties and phase possibilities.

Findings

Polarizability depends on stacking arrangement and chirality.

At low densities, multilayer graphene exhibits chiral electron spectrum behavior.

Polarizability approaches monolayer graphene values at high densities.

Abstract

We calculate the static polarizability of multilayer graphene and study the effect of stacking arrangement, carrier density, and onsite energy difference on graphene screening properties. At low densities, the energy spectrum of multilayer graphene is described by a set of chiral two-dimensional electron systems and the associated chiral nature determines the screening properties of multilayer graphene showing very different behavior depending on whether the chirality index is even or odd. As density increases, the energy spectrum follows that of the monolayer graphene and thus the polarizability approaches that of monolayer graphene. The qualitative dependence of graphene polarizability on chirality and layering indicates the possibility of distinct graphene quantum phases as a function of the chirality index.