Visualization and Manipulation of Bilayer Graphene Quantum Dots with Broken Rotational Symmetry and Nontrivial Topology

TL;DR

This study visualizes bilayer graphene quantum dots, revealing broken rotational symmetry and nontrivial topology, which influence their electronic properties and potential for quantum information applications.

Contribution

It provides the first direct visualization of BLG quantum dot states and links their symmetry breaking to anisotropic band structure and topology.

Findings

Quantum dot states exhibit broken rotational symmetry.

Anisotropic low energy bands cause symmetry breaking.

Nontrivial band topology influences electron and hole states.

Abstract

Electrostatically defined quantum dots (QDs) in Bernal stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) are a promising quantum information platform because of their long spin decoherence times, high sample quality, and tunability. Importantly, the shape of QD states determines the electron energy spectrum, the interactions between electrons, and the coupling of electrons to their environment, all of which are relevant for quantum information processing. Despite its importance, the shape of BLG QD states remains experimentally unexamined. Here we report direct visualization of BLG QD states by using a scanning tunneling microscope. Strikingly, we find these states exhibit a robust broken rotational symmetry. By using a numerical tight-binding model, we determine that the observed broken rotational symmetry can be attributed to low energy anisotropic bands. We then compare confined holes and electrons and demonstrate the influence of BLG's nontrivial band topology. Our study distinguishes BLG QDs from prior QD platforms with trivial band topology.