Strain-Induced Pseudo-Magnetic Fields Greater Than 300 Tesla in Graphene Nanobubbles

Recent theoretical proposals suggest that strain can be used to engineer graphene electronic states through the creation of a pseudo magnetic field. This effect is unique to graphene because of its massless Dirac fermion-like band structure and particular lattice symmetry (C[sub 3v]). Here, we present experimental spectroscopic measurements by scanning tunneling microscopy of highly strained nanobubbles that form when graphene is grown on a platinum (111) surface. The nanobubbles exhibit Landau levels that form in the presence of strain-induced pseudo magnetic fields greater than 300 tesla. This demonstration of enormous pseudo magnetic fields opens the door to both the study of charge carriers in previously inaccessible high magnetic field regimes and deliberate mechanical control over electronic structure in graphene or so-called strain engineering.
Published in Science, v329 p544-547, 30 Jul 2010. Prepared in collaboration with the Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, Instituto de Ciencia de Materiales de Madrid, Spain, and the Department of Physics, Boston University, MA.