Accessing a material’s topological electronic properties could get easier

Is it possible to show that the wave function of the electrons in graphene has a unique structure that makes the material so exceptional? The winners of the 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics did it using a simple electrical resistance measurement—which required ultra-pure graphene and a very strong magnetic field.

An international team that included researchers from IRIG recently published their discovery of a new and complementary technique in Nature. They used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to observe the reorganization of electrons in the vicinity of a hydrogen atom deposited on the surface of the graphene. They observed dislocations in the electronic density that reflect the unique topological structure. This method could provide deeper insights into the properties of materials.

Contact: vincent.renard@cea.fr

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