Switching Graphitic Polytypes in Elastically Coupled Islands

Fuente: arXiv
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Hauptverfasser: Roy, Nirmal, Atri, Simon Salleh, Sharaby, Yoav, Raab, Noam, Yeo, Youngki, Kenji, Watanabe, Taniguchi, Takashi, Shalom, Moshe Ben
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Roy, Nirmal
Atri, Simon Salleh
Sharaby, Yoav
Raab, Noam
Yeo, Youngki
Kenji, Watanabe
Taniguchi, Takashi
Shalom, Moshe Ben
author_facet Roy, Nirmal
Atri, Simon Salleh
Sharaby, Yoav
Raab, Noam
Yeo, Youngki
Kenji, Watanabe
Taniguchi, Takashi
Shalom, Moshe Ben
contents Van der Waals polytypes are commensurate configurations of two-dimensional layers with discrete crystalline symmetries and distinct stacking-dependent properties. In graphitic polytypes, the different stacking arrangements of graphene sheets exhibit rich electronic phases, such as intrinsic electric polarizations, orbital magnetizations, superconductivity, and anomalous fractional Hall states. Switching between these metastable periodic configurations by controlling interlayer shifts unlocks intriguing multiferroic responses. Here, we report super-lubricant arrays of polytypes (SLAP) devices, with nanometer-scale islands of Bernal polytypes that switch into Rhombohedral crystals and vice versa under a shear force as low as 6 nano-Newtons. We assemble these four-layer SLAP structures by aligning a pair of graphene bilayers above and under circular cavities in a misaligned spacer layer. Using local current measurements, we detect the shifts between the active bilayers and reveal long-range elastic relaxations outside the cavities that enable efficient nucleation and spontaneous sliding of stacking dislocation inside the islands. We demonstrate configurable, deterministic, and robust polytype switching by confining these boundary strips in narrow cavity channels that connect the islands. Such controlled switching between elastically-coupled single-crystalline islands is appealing for novel multiferroic SlideTronic applications.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_06817
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Switching Graphitic Polytypes in Elastically Coupled Islands
Roy, Nirmal
Atri, Simon Salleh
Sharaby, Yoav
Raab, Noam
Yeo, Youngki
Kenji, Watanabe
Taniguchi, Takashi
Shalom, Moshe Ben
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Van der Waals polytypes are commensurate configurations of two-dimensional layers with discrete crystalline symmetries and distinct stacking-dependent properties. In graphitic polytypes, the different stacking arrangements of graphene sheets exhibit rich electronic phases, such as intrinsic electric polarizations, orbital magnetizations, superconductivity, and anomalous fractional Hall states. Switching between these metastable periodic configurations by controlling interlayer shifts unlocks intriguing multiferroic responses. Here, we report super-lubricant arrays of polytypes (SLAP) devices, with nanometer-scale islands of Bernal polytypes that switch into Rhombohedral crystals and vice versa under a shear force as low as 6 nano-Newtons. We assemble these four-layer SLAP structures by aligning a pair of graphene bilayers above and under circular cavities in a misaligned spacer layer. Using local current measurements, we detect the shifts between the active bilayers and reveal long-range elastic relaxations outside the cavities that enable efficient nucleation and spontaneous sliding of stacking dislocation inside the islands. We demonstrate configurable, deterministic, and robust polytype switching by confining these boundary strips in narrow cavity channels that connect the islands. Such controlled switching between elastically-coupled single-crystalline islands is appealing for novel multiferroic SlideTronic applications.
title Switching Graphitic Polytypes in Elastically Coupled Islands
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.06817