Evidence of Lifshitz Transition in the Thermoelectric Power of Ultrahigh-Mobility Bilayer Graphene

Resolving low-energy features in the density of states (DOS) holds the key to understanding a wide variety of rich novel phenomena in graphene-based 2D heterostructures. The Lifshitz transition in bilayer graphene (BLG) arising from trigonal warping has been established theoretically and experimentally. Nevertheless, the experimental realization of its effects on transport properties has been challenging because of its relatively low energy scale (∼1 meV). In this work, we demonstrate that the thermoelectric power (TEP) can be used as an effective probe to investigate fine changes in the DOS of BLG. We observed additional entropy features in the vicinity of the charge neutrality point (CNP) in gapped BLG. This apparent violation of the Mott formula can be explained quantitatively by considering the effects of trigonal warping, thereby serving as possible evidence of a Lifshitz transition.

Role of the Lifshitz topological transitions in the thermodynamic properties of graphene

The origin of the Lifshitz topological transition (LTT) and the 2D nature of the LTT in graphene has been established. The peculiarities of the Lifshitz topological transitions in graphene are described at the Brillouin zone centre Γ, the zone corners K in the vicinity of the Dirac points, and at the saddle point M. A general formulation of the thermodynamics at the LTT in graphene is given. The thermodynamic characteristics of graphene are investigated at the Lifshitz topological transitions. Anomalies are found in the electron specific heat C_e, the electron thermal coefficient of pressure, and the coefficients of electron compressibility and thermal expansion in graphene at the LTT. All the thermodynamic parameters possess the strongest singularities in graphene at the LTT near the saddle points. This opens exciting opportunities for inducing and exploring the Lifshitz topological transitions in graphene.

The origin of the Lifshitz topological transition (LTT) and the 2D nature of the LTT in graphene has been established.