Ordered-Current State of Electrons in Bilayer Graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates the ordered-current state in bilayer graphene using a four-band continuum model, explaining experimental observations of energy gap behavior under magnetic and electric fields and proposing it as a potential ground state.

Contribution

It introduces the ordered-current state as a plausible ground state in bilayer graphene, explaining magnetic and electric field effects on the energy gap with theoretical and experimental consistency.

Findings

Energy gap increases with magnetic field B

Electric field can close the energy gap

Hysteresis behavior of the energy gap predicted

Abstract

Based on the four-band continuum model, we study the ordered-current state (OCS) for electrons in bilayer graphene at the charge neutrality point. The present work resolves the puzzles that (a) the energy gap increases significantly with increasing the magnetic field $B$, (b) the energy gap can be closed by the external electric field of either polarization, and (c) the particle-hole spectrum is asymmetric in the presence of $B$, all these as observed by the experiment. We also present the prediction of the hysteresis energy gap behavior with varying $B$, which explains the existing experimental observation on the electric conductance at weak $B$. The large energy gap of the OCS is shown to originate from the disappearance of Landau levels of $n$ = 0 and 1 states in conduction/valence band. By comparing with the existing models and the experiments, we conclude that the OCS is a possible ground state of electrons in bilayer graphene.