arXiv subjects

Patrick Johansen Sarsfield

Publications and source records attributed to Patrick Johansen Sarsfield.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Up/down-conversion of infrared light by few-layer graphene polytypes

Optical nonlinearity of materials with broken inversion symmetry enables two-photon processes where an incoming pair of photons can generate an up-converted photon with the combined frequency, or a high-energy photon can be split into a correlated pair of down-converted photons. Here, we identify few-layer graphene films that offer up/down-conversion capability in the infrared spectral range. For mixed stacking tetralayers (ABCB), which are non-centrosymmetric 2D crystals, we find highly efficient nearly resonant up/down-conversion of [$ω_1,ω_2$] photon pairs into/from a photon with $0.7$eV$<Ω=ω_1+ω_2<1.1$eV. We also note that a pronounced second-order nonlinearity in the spectral range of $0.7$eV$<Ω<0.9$eV can be promoted in rhombohedral tri- and tetralayers by asymmetrical encapsulation. Potentially, for fibers coated with few-layer graphene, this opens the door for ``in fiber" production of photon pairs with correlated polarizations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Resonant Structure of Second Harmonic Generation in Multilayer Graphene Polytypes

Second harmonic generation (SHG) is a powerful optical tool for identifying non-centrosymmetric crystalline structures. Here, we analyze SHG in multilayer graphenes (MLG), with a focus on its dependence on the stacking order, encapsulation environment and biasing which break inversion symmetry in multilayers, as well as the SHG sensitivity to the electron-hole asymmetry in the MLG spectra and doping. In particular, we identify stacking-order-dependent resonant features in the SHG spectra for trilayers and tetralayers, suggesting that infra-red range SHG offers a non-invasive characterization method for distinguishing between MLG polytypes, as well as optical identification of crystallographic direction in MLG films.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Stacking-induced ferroelectricity in tetralayer graphene

Recent studies have reported emergent ferroelectric behavior in twisted or moiré-engineered graphene-based van der Waals heterostructures, yet the microscopic origin of this effect remains under debate. Pristine mono- or few-layer graphene lacks a permanent dipole due to its centrosymmetric lattice, making the emergence of ferroelectricity unlikely. However, mixed-stacked graphene, such as the ABCB tetralayer configuration, breaks both inversion and mirror symmetry and has been theoretically predicted to support electrically switchable dipoles. ABCB graphene represents the simplest natural graphene polytype exhibiting intrinsic out-of-plane polarization, arising from asymmetric charge carrier distribution across its layers. Here, we report robust ferroelectric behavior in dual-gated, non-aligned ABCB tetralayer graphene encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride. The device exhibits pronounced hysteresis in resistance under both top and bottom gate modulation, with the effect persisting up to room temperature. This hysteresis originates from reversible layer-polarized charge reordering, driven by gate-induced transitions between ABCB and BCBA stacking configurations -- without requiring moiré superlattices. Our findings establish stacking-order-induced symmetry breaking as a fundamental route to electronic ferroelectricity in graphene and open pathways for non-volatile memory applications based on naturally occurring mixed-stacked multilayer graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Electronic properties of stacking faults in Bernal graphite

Using the tight-binding model of graphite, incorporating all Slonczewski-Weiss-McClure parameters, we compute the spectrum of two-dimensional states of electrons bound to a stacking fault in Bernal graphite. We find that those bands retain characteristic features of the low-energy bands of a rhombohedral graphene trilayer, which actually represents the lattice structure the fault. Based on the self-consistent analysis of charge and potential distribution across the fault layers, we determine the shape of the Fermi contour for the 2D band, which has the form of three pockets with a hole-like conic dispersion and Dirac points above the Fermi level. The computed frequency of Shubnikov-de Haas oscillations and the cyclotron mass of the fault-bound charge carriers (at the Fermi level) are sufficiently different from the corresponding bulk values in graphite, making such stacking faults identifiable by quantum transport and cyclotron resonance measurements.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Substrate, temperature and magnetic field dependence of electric polarisation in mixed-stacking tetralayer graphenes

Polytypes of tetralayer graphene (TLG: Bernal, rhombohedral and mixed stacking) are crystalline structures with different symmetries. Among those, mixed-stacking tetralayers lack inversion symmetry, which allows for intrinsic spontaneous out-of-plane electrical polarisation, inverted in the mirror-image pair, ABCB and ABAC stackings. Here, we compare the intrinsic polarisation of such TLGs with the symmetry-breaking effect of a substrate, which can also generate out-of-plane electric dipole moments with different sizes in all four polytypes, including ABCB and ABAC twins. We analyse their temperature and magnetic field dependence, in view of understanding the origin of the recently measured Kelvin probe force microscopy maps of tetralayer flakes, and notice that the intrinsic contribution could be singled out based on magnetic field dependence of polarisation measured at low temperatures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗