Enhancement of electron–phonon coupling in Cs-overlayered intercalated bilayer graphene

Abstract

We have performed high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) on cesium (Cs) intercalated bilayer graphene with a Cs overlayer (Cs-C8CsC8). Low-energy electron diffraction shows a (2 × 2) pattern consistent with intercalation of a Cs layer similar to bulk C8Cs, in addition to the signature of a nearly commensurate superstructure created by the Cs overlayer. ARPES results reveal folding of the π bands due to the periodic (2 × 2) potential of the intercalated Cs atoms, together with a free-electron-like state at the point. Significant mass renormalization is observed in the band dispersion near the Fermi level, indicative of strong electron–phonon coupling. Based on analysis of the self-energy, we find anisotropic electron–phonon coupling with an estimated strength of ± 0.02 in the K- direction, and in the K-M direction. This coupling is much larger than that of other doped graphenes, and comparable to superconducting bulk GICs. We attribute this large electron–phonon coupling constant to the presence of the Cs overlayer, which highly dopes bands, and creates a structure similar to stage-I graphite intercalation compounds.