Abstract
We study the effect of spatial modulations in the interlayer hopping of graphene bilayers, such as those that arise upon shearing or twisting. We show that their single-particle physics, characterized by charge accumulation and recurrent formation of zero-energy bands as the pattern period increases, is governed by a non-Abelian gauge potential arising in the low-energy electronic theory due to the coupling between layers. We show that such gauge-type couplings give rise to a potential that, for certain discrete values of , spatially confines states at zero energy in particular regions of the moiré patterns. We also draw the connection between the recurrence of the flat zero-energy bands and the non-Abelian character of the potential.
- Received 17 October 2011
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.216802
© 2012 American Physical Society