Spectroscopic evidence for electron correlations in the interface-modulated epitaxial bilayer graphene

TL;DR

This study provides spectroscopic evidence of electron correlations in epitaxial bilayer graphene modulated by interface superlattice potentials, revealing non-rigid band shifts and high carrier tunability linked to interface reconstruction effects.

Contribution

It demonstrates the existence of correlation effects in interface-modulated epitaxial bilayer graphene, extending the understanding of correlated states beyond magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene.

Findings

Spectroscopic signatures of correlated electron states detected.

Carrier density can be quasi-'tuned' by interface superlattice potentials.

High carrier tunability comparable to large back-gate voltages.

Abstract

Superlattice potentials are theoretically predicted to modify the single-particle electronic structures. The resulting Coulomb-interaction-dominated low-energy physics would generate highly novel many-body phenomena. Here, by in situ tunneling spectroscopy, we show the signatures of superstructure-modulated correlated electron states in epitaxial bilayer graphene (BLG) on 6H-SiC(0001). As the carrier density is locally quasi-'tuned' by the superlattice potentials of a 6x6 interface reconstruction phase, the spectral-weight transfer occurs between the two broad peaks flanking the charge-neutral point. Such detected non-rigid band shift beyond the single-particle band description implies the existence of correlation effects, probably attributed to the modified interlayer coupling in epitaxial BLG by the 6x6 reconstruction as in magic-angle BLG by the Moire potentials. Quantitative analysis suggests the intrinsic interface reconstruction shows a high carrier tunability of around 1/2 filling range, equivalent to the back gating by a voltage of around 70 V in a typical gated BLG/SiO2/Si device. The finding in interface-modulated epitaxial BLG with reconstruction phase extends the BLG platform with electron correlations beyond the magic-angle situation, and may stimulate further investigations on correlated states in graphene systems and other van der Waals materials.