Massive Dirac fermions and Hofstadter butterfly in a van der Waals heterostructure

Science. 2013 Jun 21;340(6139):1427-30. doi: 10.1126/science.1237240. Epub 2013 May 16.

Abstract

van der Waals heterostructures constitute a new class of artificial materials formed by stacking atomically thin planar crystals. We demonstrated band structure engineering in a van der Waals heterostructure composed of a monolayer graphene flake coupled to a rotationally aligned hexagonal boron nitride substrate. The spatially varying interlayer atomic registry results in both a local breaking of the carbon sublattice symmetry and a long-range moiré superlattice potential in the graphene. In our samples, this interplay between short- and long-wavelength effects resulted in a band structure described by isolated superlattice minibands and an unexpectedly large band gap at charge neutrality. This picture is confirmed by our observation of fractional quantum Hall states at ± 5/3 filling and features associated with the Hofstadter butterfly at ultrahigh magnetic fields.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.