Emergent interfacial conductivity in hBN/α-RuCl<sub>3</sub> heterostructures

ORAL

Abstract

The use of work function-mediated charge transfer in two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures has recently garnered significant interest as a means of tailoring 2D electrostatic environments at the nanoscale. For example, α-RuCl3 is a van der Waals material possessing a large work function (Φ = 6.1 eV) and behaves as a 2D electron acceptor when interfaced with graphene and other 2D materials. In our study, we seek to understand how the presence of a large work function mismatch influences the behavior of the wide band gap insulator hexagonal boronitride (hBN) in heterostructures with α-RuCl3. Using scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM), we image hBN phonon-polaritons (PhPs) as a means of interrogating charge transfer at the hBN/α-RuCl3 interface. We observe significant frequency-dependent optical losses that are well in excess of those predicted from the intrinsic optical properties of either material, revealing significant emergent optical conductivity associated with interlayer charge transfer. First-principles density functional theory (DFT) calculations corroborate the existence of interlayer charge transfer and concomitant band structure renormalization in hBN/α-RuCl3 heterostructures.

*Research at Columbia University was supported as part of the Energy Frontier Research Center on Programmable Quantum Materials funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Science, Basic Energy Sciences (BES), under Award No DE-SC0019443.

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Publication: Emergent interfacial conductivity in hBN/a-RuCl3 heterostructures (in progress)

Presenters

  • Daniel J Rizzo

    • Columbia University

Authors

  • Daniel J Rizzo

    • Columbia University

  • Jin Zhang

    • Max Planck Institute for Structure and Dynamics of Matter
    • Max Planck Institute

  • Bjarke S Jessen

    • Columbia University

  • Xuehao Wu

    • Columbia University

  • Frank L Ruta

    • Columbia University

  • Samuel L Moore

    • Columbia University

  • Madisen A Holbrook

    • University of Texas at Austin
    • Columbia University

  • Thomas P Darlington

    • Columbia University

  • Matthew A Cothrine

    • University of Tennessee

  • Jiaqiang Yan

    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory
    • Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN 37831, USA

  • David G Mandrus

    • University of Tennessee
    • Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  • Takashi Taniguchi

    • National Institute for Materials Science
    • Kyoto Univ
    • International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute of Materials Science
    • Kyoto University
    • International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-044, Japan
    • International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science
    • National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
    • National Institute For Materials Science
    • NIMS
    • National Institute for Material Science
    • International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan
    • NIMS Japan

  • Kenji Watanabe

    • National Institute for Materials Science
    • Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute of Materials Science
    • Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba 305-044, Japan
    • NIMS
    • Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science
    • National Institute for Materials Science, Japan
    • Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, Japan
    • NIMS Japan

  • Stephen E Nagler

    • Oak Ridge National Lab

  • Angel Rubio

    • Max Planck Institute for Structure and Dynamics of Matter
    • Max Planck Institute for the Structure &
    • Max Planck Institute for the Structure & Dynamics of Matter
    • Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Luruper Chaussee 149, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
    • Max Planck Institute for the Structure &Dynamics of Matter; Center for Computational Quantum Physics (CCQ), Flatiron Institute
    • 1. Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter 2. Center for Computational Quantum Physics (CCQ), Flatiron Institute, 162 Fifth Avenue, New York NY

  • James C Hone

    • Columbia University

  • Cory R Dean

    • Columbia Univ
    • Columbia University

  • Abhay N Pasupathy

    • Brookhaven National Laboratory & Columbia University
    • Columbia University

  • Dmitri N Basov

    • Columbia University
    • Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA