One-way electron mirrors from single-layer stacking shifts in rhombohedral graphite

Abstract

One-way mirrors or asymmetric scatterers are key components of photonic systems, protecting sources from back-reflections and routing light along a chosen path. Acoustic systems can also be engineered to show asymmetric reflection. However, a condensed matter platform acting as a one-way mirror without breaking linearity, time-reversal symmetry or energy conservation has been lacking. One route to achieving this is mode selection, where a probe coupled to only some modes sees a boundary as a mirror from one side and as transparent from the other. Here we show that single-layer stacking shifts in six-layer rhombohedral graphite provide this platform, acting as one-way mirrors for electrons. In scanning tunneling microscopy, 10 nm scale interference fringes appear only on the stacking fault side of a wall, tracking its Dirac band, the rhombohedral side remaining transparent. Layer-resolved tight-binding and wave-packet dynamics calculations reproduce this and trace the asymmetry to the mismatched layer polarization across the wall, with the tip supplying the selective coupling. Because stacking solitons glide under external fields, this mirror forms a movable element of electron optics defined by the crystal structure alone.

Drumhead Surface States of Rhombohedral Graphite with Near Ideal Quantum Geometry Condition
Lin-Lin Wang
arXiv20 Oct 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textCondensed matterarXiv
Three-Dimensional Topology from Stacking-Controlled Umklapp Scattering in Large-Angle Twisted Graphite
Juncheng Li, Cong Chen, Wang Yao
arXiv30 Sep 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textCondensed matterarXiv
Metallic electron crystals in rhombohedral graphene as a bridge to twisted WSe₂
Wentai Deng, Chenyuan Li, Naoto Nakatsuji +4
arXiv14 Oct 2026PreprintarXiv licenceFull textCondensed matterarXiv
Real-space Visualization of Emergent Electron Crystals in Rhombohedral Graphene
Yiming Sun, Jinghao Deng, Jiabin Xie +5
arXiv10 Sep 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textCondensed matterarXiv
Consistent Modeling of SEI Growth via Electron Diffusion Validated Across Diverse Cell Specifications and Operating Conditions in LFP/Graphite Cells
Lukas Köbbing, William Black, Claire Floras +5
arXiv21 Oct 2026PreprintCC BY 4.0Full textPhysical chemistry Applied physics & instrumentationarXiv

Cite

BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{kandrai2026oneway,
  title = {{One-way electron mirrors from single-layer stacking shifts in rhombohedral graphite}},
  author = {Konrád Kandrai and András Balogh and Dóra Varga and Márton Szendrő and András Pálinkás and József Cserti and János Koltai and Krisztián Márity and Péter Vancsó and Géza I. Márk and Alexandre Mayer and Zoltán Tajkov and Levente Tapasztó and Péter Nemes-Incze},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.20905},
  eprint = {2610.20905},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.20905},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - One-way electron mirrors from single-layer stacking shifts in rhombohedral graphite
AU  - Konrád Kandrai
AU  - András Balogh
AU  - Dóra Varga
AU  - Márton Szendrő
AU  - András Pálinkás
AU  - József Cserti
AU  - János Koltai
AU  - Krisztián Márity
AU  - Péter Vancsó
AU  - Géza I. Márk
AU  - Alexandre Mayer
AU  - Zoltán Tajkov
AU  - Levente Tapasztó
AU  - Péter Nemes-Incze
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/14
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.20905
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.20905
AB  - One-way mirrors or asymmetric scatterers are key components of photonic systems, protecting sources from back-reflections and routing light along a chosen path. Acoustic systems can also be engineered to show asymmetric reflection. However, a condensed matter platform acting as a one-way mirror without breaking linearity, time-reversal symmetry or energy conservation has been lacking. One route to achieving this is mode selection, where a probe coupled to only some modes sees a boundary as a mirror from one side and as transparent from the other. Here we show that single-layer stacking shifts in six-layer rhombohedral graphite provide this platform, acting as one-way mirrors for electrons. In scanning tunneling microscopy, 10 nm scale interference fringes appear only on the stacking fault side of a wall, tracking its Dirac band, the rhombohedral side remaining transparent. Layer-resolved tight-binding and wave-packet dynamics calculations reproduce this and trace the asymmetry to the mismatched layer polarization across the wall, with the tip supplying the selective coupling. Because stacking solitons glide under external fields, this mirror forms a movable element of electron optics defined by the crystal structure alone.
ER  -

Abstract

Related

Cite