Raise and collapse of strain-induced pseudo-Landau levels in graphene

TL;DR

This paper investigates how certain strain configurations in graphene induce pseudo-Landau levels and how deformation potentials can destabilize these levels, revealing new insights into straintronics and electric control of pseudomagnetic fields.

Contribution

It clarifies the analogy between pseudo and real electromagnetic fields in graphene and demonstrates the destabilization of pseudo-Landau levels by deformation potentials acting like electric fields.

Findings

Deformation potential can destabilize pseudo-Landau levels.

Strain configurations can mimic electric fields affecting Landau levels.

Relativistic effects influence the interpretation of strain-induced phenomena.

Abstract

Lattice deformations couple to the low energy electronic excitations of graphene as vector fields similar to the electromagnetic potential \cite{SA02b,VKG10}. The suggestion that certain strain configurations would be able to induce pseudo landau levels in the spectrum of graphene \cite{GKG10,GGKN10}, and the subsequent experimental observation of these \cite{LBetal10} has been one of the most exciting events in an already fascinating field. It opened a new field of research "straintronics" linked to new applications, and had a strong influence on the physics of the new Dirac materials in two and three dimensions \cite{Amorim16}. The experimental observation of pseudo landau levels with scanning tunnel microscopy presents nevertheless some ambiguities. Similar strain patterns show different images sometimes difficult to interpret. In this work we strain the analogy of the pseudo versus real electromagnetic fields, as well as the fact that graphene has a relativistic behavior and show that, for some strain configurations, the deformation potential acts like a parallel electric field able to destabilize the Landau level structure via a mechanism identical to that described in \cite{LSB07,PC07} for real electromagnetic fields. The underlying physics is the combination of Maxwell electrodynamics and special relativity implying that different reference frames observe different electromagnetic fields \cite{LSB07}. The mechanism applies equally if the electric field has an external origin, which opens the door to an electric control of the giant pseudomagnetic fields in graphene.