Gate-defined electron interferometer in bilayer graphene

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a purely electrostatically defined electron interferometer in bilayer graphene, achieving high-quality quantum interference with tunable carrier type and long coherence length, avoiding sample degradation from etching.

Contribution

It introduces a novel gate-defined interferometer in bilayer graphene that preserves sample quality and enables tunable quantum interference experiments.

Findings

Observation of Aharonov-Bohm oscillations with multiple harmonics

Coherence length exceeds the ring perimeter, indicating high device quality

Tunable carrier type and interference patterns via gating

Abstract

We present an electron interferometer defined purely by electrostatic gating in encapsulated bilayer graphene. This minimizes possible sample degradation introduced by conventional etching methods when preparing quantum devices. The device quality is demonstrated by observing Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations with a period of h/e, h/2e, h/3e, and h/4e, witnessing a coherence length of many microns. The AB oscillations as well as the type of carriers (electrons or holes) are seamlessly tunable with gating. The coherence length longer than the ring perimeter and semiclassical trajectory of the carrier are established from the analysis of the temperature and magnetic field dependence of the oscillations. Our gate-defined ring geometry has the potential to evolve into a platform for exploring correlated quantum states such as superconductivity in interferometers in twisted bilayer graphene.