Out-of-plane corrugations in graphene based van der Waals heterostructures
Simon Zihlmann, Péter Makk, Mirko K. Rehmann, Lujun Wang, Máté Kedves, David I. Indolese, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Dominik M. Zumbühl, Christian Schönenberger
Abstract
Graphene, the first truly two-dimensional material isolated, is never perfectly flat. Even when it is sandwiched between other atomically flat crystals, it still slightly ripples. These out-of-plane corrugations, deformations of the graphene layer into the third dimension, have profound implications on graphene's properties. They reduce the mobility of electrons moving within graphene just like bumps on a road slow down a car. Here, the authors demonstrate the presence of such corrugations by studying the quantum mechanical phase electrons acquire in the presence of a magnetic field.