Direct evidence for a metallic interlayer band in Rb-intercalated bilayer graphene

We have fabricated Rb-intercalated bilayer graphene on 6H-SiC(0001) and performed low-energy electron diffraction (LEED) and high-resolution angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES). In LEED experiments, we observed a 2 × 2 pattern identical to that of the bulk graphite intercalation compound C₈Rb. The existence of a 2 × 2 Rb layer is also confirmed by ARPES, where band folding due to the periodic potential of intercalated atoms was observed. All these results indicate that Rb atoms are intercalated between the two graphene monolayers in a regular manner similar to that of bulk C₈Rb. Further, we observed a parabolic metallic band at the Brillouin-zone center, analogous to the so-called interlayer band, which is thought to play an important role for the superconductivity in graphite intercalation compounds.