Visualizing the Effect of an Electrostatic Gate with Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy on Dirac Cone Gapped Graphene Heterostructures

In the realm of investigating two-dimensional materials, the frontier lies in exploring their exceptional properties in proto-devices to understand their electronic behavior under oper-ating conditions. We aim to investigate the emerging electronic properties influenced by low-dimensionality phenomena, such as strong spin-orbit coupling, as these materials are poten-tially integrated into prototype devices. In this proposal, we pioneer a new path to explore how the electronic structure of graphene heterostructures can be affected by external volt-ages. Specifically, we focus on a graphene layer on Ir(111) intercalated with tellurium. Exten-sive studies carried out at IMDEA Nanociencia have shown that tellurium intercalation opens a sizeable bandgap at the Dirac point, regardless of the underlying Te/Ir interface reconstruc-tion, induced by intrinsic spin-orbit coupling. Besides, n-type doping is introduced as a func-tion of Te coverage. Through these groundbreaking studies using ARPES under in-operando conditions, we seek to establish the feasibility of 2D systems as platforms for novel electronic device prototypes.