Spontaneous Gully-Polarized Quantum Hall States in ABA Trilayer Graphene

Bernal-stacked multilayer graphene is a versatile platform to explore quantum transport phenomena and interaction physics due to its exceptional tunability via electrostatic gating. For instance, upon applying a perpendicular electric field, its band structure exhibits several off-center Dirac points (so-called Dirac gullies) in each valley. Here, the formation of Dirac gullies and the interaction-induced breakdown of gully coherence is explored via magnetotransport measurements in high-quality Bernal-stacked (ABA) trilayer graphene. At zero magnetic field, multiple Lifshitz transitions indicating the formation of Dirac gullies are identified. In the quantum Hall regime, the emergence of Dirac gullies is evident as an increase in Landau level degeneracy. When tuning both electric and magnetic fields, electron–electron interactions can be controllably enhanced until, beyond critical electric and magnetic fields, the gully degeneracy is eventually lifted. The arising correlated ground state is consistent with a previously predicted nematic phase that spontaneously breaks the rotational gully symmetry.