Interaction-driven quantum Hall wedding cake–like structures in graphene quantum dots

Quantum-relativistic matter is ubiquitous in nature; however, it is notoriously difficult to probe. The ease with which external electric and magnetic fields can be introduced in graphene opens a door to creating a tabletop prototype of strongly confined relativistic matter. Here, through a detailed spectroscopic mapping, we directly visualize the interplay between spatial and magnetic confinement in a circular graphene resonator as atomic-like shell states condense into Landau levels. We directly observe the development of a “wedding cake”–like structure of concentric regions of compressible-incompressible quantum Hall states, a signature of electron interactions in the system. Solid-state experiments can, therefore, yield insights into the behavior of quantum-relativistic matter under extreme conditions.United States. National Science Foundation. STC Center for Integrated Quantum Materials (Award 1231319)United States. Army Research Office. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (Contract W911NF-13-D-0001