Tuning the magnetic configuration of bilayer graphene quantum dot by twisting

Abstract

Twistronic has recently attracted tremendous attention because the twisting can engineer the bilayer graphene-like materials into varying types of strongly correlated phases. In this paper, we study the twisting of bilayer graphene (BLG) quantum dots (QDs) with hexagonal shape and zigzag edges. In the untwisted BLG-QDs, the zigzag edges of graphene host spontaneous magnetism with varying magnetic configurations. As a BLG-QD being adiabatically twisted, the quantum state evolves as a function of the twisting angle. If the twisting angle changes across certain critical value, the magnetic configuration of the quantum state sharply changes. For the twisting process with increasing or decreasing twisting angle, the number and value of the critical twisting angles are different. Thus, the twisting process with the twisting angle increasing and decreasing back and forth could enter a hysteresis loop. The twisting of BLG QDs with adatom is also investigated. The tuning features of the magnetic configuration of the twisted BLG-QDs could be applied for graphene-based quantum memory devices.