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First direct observation of Dirac fermions in graphite

Nature Physics volume 2, pages 595–599 (2006)Cite this article

Abstract

Originating from relativistic quantum field theory, Dirac fermions have been invoked recently to explain various peculiar phenomena in condensed-matter physics, including the novel quantum Hall effect in graphene1,2, the magnetic-field-driven metal–insulator-like transition in graphite3,4, superfluidity in 3He (ref. 5) and the exotic pseudogap phase of high-temperature superconductors6,7. Despite their proposed key role in those systems, direct experimental evidence of Dirac fermions has been limited. Here, we report the first direct observation of relativistic Dirac fermions with linear dispersion near the Brillouin zone (BZ) corner H, which coexist with quasiparticles that have a parabolic dispersion near another BZ corner K. In addition, we also report a large electron pocket that we attribute to defect-induced localized states. Thus, graphite presents a system in which massless Dirac fermions, quasiparticles with finite effective mass and defect states all contribute to the low-energy electronic dynamics.

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Figure 1: Linear Λ-shaped dispersion near the BZ corner H.
Figure 2: Constant energy maps taken near the H point, showing that the electronic structure is isotropic in the kx–ky plane from EF to −0.6 eV.
Figure 3: Detailed low-energy dispersion near the H point shows that low-energy excitations are Dirac fermions with the Dirac point slightly above EF.
Figure 4: Detailed dispersion near K, which shows that quasiparticles with finite effective mass and defect-induced localized states also contribute to the low-energy electronic dynamics.
Figure 5: Dispersions measured near H and K, showing the general consistency of the extracted kz values.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Castro Neto, V. Oganesyan, A. Bill, K. McElroy, C. M. Jozwiak and D. Garcia for useful discussions and E. Domning and B. Smith for beam line 12.0.1 control software. This work was supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant No. DMR03-49361, the Director, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Division of Materials Sciences and Engineering of the US Department of Energy under Contract No. DEAC03-76SF00098 and by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory under the Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC02-05CH11231.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    S. Y. Zhou, G.-H. Gweon, C. D. Spataru, D.-H. Lee, Steven G. Louie & A. Lanzara

  2. Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    S. Y. Zhou, J. Graf, D.-H. Lee, Steven G. Louie & A. Lanzara

  3. Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    A. V. Fedorov

  4. Chemical Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California, 94720, USA

    C. D. Spataru

  5. Department of Physics and Materials Research Institute, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, 16802, USA

    R. D. Diehl

  6. Instituto de Física ‘Gleb Wataghin’, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Unicamp 13083-970, Campinas, Sao Paulo, Brazil

    Y. Kopelevich

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  1. S. Y. Zhou
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Correspondence to A. Lanzara.

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Zhou, S., Gweon, GH., Graf, J. et al. First direct observation of Dirac fermions in graphite. Nature Phys 2, 595–599 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys393

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