Observation of electron states of small period artificial graphene in nano-patterned GaAs quantum wells

Engineered honeycomb lattices, called artificial graphene (AG), are tunable platforms for the study of novel electronic states related to Dirac physics. In this work, we report the achievement of electronic bands of the honeycomb topology with the period as low as 40 nm on the nano-patterned modulation-doped AlGaAs/GaAs quantum wells. Resonant inelastic light scattering spectra reveal peaks which are interpreted as combined electronic transitions between subbands of the quantum well confinement with a change in the AG band index. Spectra lineshapes are explained by joint density of states obtained from the calculated AG electron band structures. These results provide a basis for further advancements in AG physics.