Multi-flavor Dirac fermions in Kekul\'{e}-distorted graphene bilayers

Abstract

Graphene's electronic structure can be fundamentally altered when a substrate- or adatom-induced Kekul\'e superlattice couples the valley and isospin degrees of freedom. Here, we show that the band structure of Kekul\'e-textured graphene can be re-engineered through layer stacking. We predict a family of Kekul\'e graphene bilayers that exhibit band structures with up to six valleys, and room-temperature Dirac quasiparticles whose masses can be tuned electrostatically. Fermi velocities half as large as in pristine graphene put this system in the strongly coupled regime, where correlated ground states can be expected.