Intrinsic spin-orbit coupling gap and the evidence of a topological state in graphene

Abstract

In 2005 Kane & Mele[C. L. Kane and E. J. Mele, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 226801 (2005)], predicted that at sufficiently low energy, graphene exhibits a topological state of matter with an energy gap generated by the atomic spin-orbit interaction. However, this intrinsic gap has not been measured to this date. In this letter, we exploit the chirality of the low energy states to resolve this gap. We probe the spin states experimentally, by employing low temperature microwave excitation in a resistively detected electron spin resonance on graphene. The structure of the topological bands is reflected in our transport experiments, where our numerical models allow us to identify the resonance signatures. We determine the intrinsic spin-orbit bulk gap to be exactly 42.2 {\mu}eV. Electron-spin resonance experiments can reveal the competition between the intrinsic spin-orbit coupling and classical Zeeman energy that arises at low magnetic fields and demonstrate that graphene remains to be a material with surprising properties.