Origin of the π -band replicas in the electronic structure of graphene grown on 4H -SiC(0001)

Abstract

The calculated electronic band structure of graphene is relatively simple, with a Fermi surface consisting only of six Dirac cones in the first Brillouin zone - one at each K̄. In contrast, angle-resolved photoemission measurements of graphene grown on SiC(0001) often show six satellite Dirac cones surrounding each primary Dirac cone. Recent studies have reported two further Dirac cones along the Γ-K̄ line, and argue that these are not photoelectron diffraction artifacts but real bands deriving from a modulation of the ionic potential in the graphene layer. Here we present measurements using linearly polarized synchrotron light which show all of these replicas as well as several additional ones. Using information obtained from dark corridor orientations and angular warping, we demonstrate that all but one of these additional features - including those previously assigned as real initial-state bands - are possible to explain by simple final-state photoelectron diffraction.