Gate-induced layer sliding drives non-volatile switching of magnetism in tetralayer graphene.

Abstract

Layer stacking in two-dimensional materials can strongly impact electronic phases. In graphene, for instance, the metastable rhombohedral stacking arrangement hosts correlated and topological electronic phases, which are absent in conventional Bernal stacking. Here we use the sliding-induced first-order structural phase transition between Bernal and rhombohedral tetralayer graphene driven by gate voltages to manipulate the magnetic phase of the sample. Through transport measurement on marginally twisted double-bilayer graphene samples, we observe bistable switching between a Bernal-dominant state and a rhombohedral-Bernal mixed state across a wide space of the gate-voltage phase diagram. The structural phase transition induces a non-volatile switching between a non-magnetic and a ferromagnetic phase. We characterize the latter phase via low-temperature electric transport measurements and observe an anomalous Hall effect. The sign reversal of the anomalous Hall signal under opposite displacement fields suggests that the Hall signal may originate from domain boundaries between Bernal and rhombohedral regions. Our experiments showcase how gating-induced sliding phase transitions of two-dimensional materials can provide on-demand toggle switching between complex phases and offer insights on the effect of stacking domain boundaries on the global response of the system.