Effect of nonlocal interlayer hopping on wave function in twisted bilayer graphene

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Author: Pal, Hridis K.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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author Pal, Hridis K.
author_facet Pal, Hridis K.
contents The conventional low-energy theory employed to describe twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) relies on a local interlayer Hamiltonian. According to this theory, TBG has the same linear-in-momentum dispersion and spinor wave function at the Dirac point as single-layer graphene (SLG), albeit with a renormalized velocity that decreases as the rotation angle between the layers decreases, eventually reaching zero at the magic angle. In this work, I expand upon this low-energy theory by including nonlocal terms in the interlayer part of the Hamiltonian, and explore the consequences at the Dirac point. It is found that the nonlocality predominantly influences the wave function rather than the energy spectrum: despite the persistence of the linear-in-momentum dispersion with a renormalized velocity, the wave functions no longer mirror those of SLG. Instead, an additional contribution to the phase difference between the sublattice components of the spinor emerges. This gives rise to interesting effects in scattering which are demonstrated with a simple example.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2404_05025
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Effect of nonlocal interlayer hopping on wave function in twisted bilayer graphene
Pal, Hridis K.
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
The conventional low-energy theory employed to describe twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) relies on a local interlayer Hamiltonian. According to this theory, TBG has the same linear-in-momentum dispersion and spinor wave function at the Dirac point as single-layer graphene (SLG), albeit with a renormalized velocity that decreases as the rotation angle between the layers decreases, eventually reaching zero at the magic angle. In this work, I expand upon this low-energy theory by including nonlocal terms in the interlayer part of the Hamiltonian, and explore the consequences at the Dirac point. It is found that the nonlocality predominantly influences the wave function rather than the energy spectrum: despite the persistence of the linear-in-momentum dispersion with a renormalized velocity, the wave functions no longer mirror those of SLG. Instead, an additional contribution to the phase difference between the sublattice components of the spinor emerges. This gives rise to interesting effects in scattering which are demonstrated with a simple example.
title Effect of nonlocal interlayer hopping on wave function in twisted bilayer graphene
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2404.05025