2008/06/30 by I. Brihuega, Pierre Mallet, P. Mallet +15
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Chiral symmetry breaking #Chirality (physics) #Condensed matter physics #Graphene #Graphene research and applications #Materials science #Nanometre #Nanotechnology #Optics #Physics #Quantum #Quantum and electron transport phenomena #Quantum mechanics #Quantum tunnelling #Quasiparticle #Scanning tunneling microscope #Scattering #Superconductivity #Symmetry (geometry) #Symmetry breaking #Topological Materials and Phenomena #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.101.206802
published as Physical Review Letters 101, 206802 (2008) · 4 pages, 3 figures, minor changes
openalex publication_date 2008/11/14 · arxiv created 2008/11/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Graphene exhibits unconventional two-dimensional electronic properties resulting from the symmetry of its quasiparticles, which leads to the concepts of pseudospin and electronic chirality. Here, we report that scanning tunneling microscopy can be used to probe these unique symmetry properties at the nanometer scale. They are reflected in the quantum interference pattern resulting from elastic scattering off impurities, and they can be directly read from its fast Fourier transform. Our data, complemented by theoretical calculations, demonstrate that the pseudospin and the electronic chirality in epitaxial graphene on SiC(0001) correspond to the ones predicted for ideal graphene.