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Exciton condensation in biased bilayer graphene

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2023-01-20 v1 Strongly Correlated Electrons Superconductivity

Abstract

We consider suspened bilayer graphene under applied perpendicular electric bias field that is known to generate a single particle gap 2Δ2\Delta and a related electric polarization P{\cal P}. We argue that the bias also drives a quantum phase transition from band insulator to superfluid exciton condensate. The transition occurs when the exciton binding energy exceeds the band gap 2Δ2\Delta. We predict the critical bias (converted to band gap), Δc60\Delta_c\approx 60 meV, below which the excitons condense. The critical temperature, Tc(Δ)T_c(\Delta), is maximum at Δ25\Delta \approx 25 meV, Tcmax115T_c^\text{max}\approx 115 K, decreasing significantly at smaller Δ\Delta due to thermal screening. Entering the condensate phase, the superfluid transition is accompanied by a cusp in the electric polarization P(Δ){\cal P}(\Delta) at ΔΔc\Delta\to\Delta_c, which provides a striking testable signature. Additionally, we find that the condensate prefers to form a pair density wave.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2301.07864,
  title  = {Exciton condensation in biased bilayer graphene},
  author = {Harley D. Scammell and Oleg P. Sushkov},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.07864},
  year   = {2023}
}