To date, the unfolding of electron droplets in strong inhomogeneous magnetic fields into remarkable viscous fingers has been only described by thought experiments. Here we present, for the first time, a direct experimental observation of viscous fingers in hydrogenated epitaxial graphene by the atomic force microscope. We propose that the manifestation of these 'finger' shapes is an exciting way to reveal the presence of strong and non-uniform pseudo-magnetic fields, which is predicted by recent DFT calculations. Our results suggest that hydrogenated epitaxial graphene is a quantum Hall system without any externally applied magnetic field. This opens a new world of possibilities to study (fractional) quantum Hall effects and exotic strongly correlated electron systems.
A study on hydrogenated epitaxial graphene
Kha, C. S. (Author). 31 Aug 2015
Student thesis: Master