Topological phase and chiral edge states of bilayer graphene with staggered sublattice potentials and Hubbard interaction

Gated heterostructures containing bilayer graphene with staggered sublattice potentials are investigated by tight binding model with Rashba spin-orbital coupling and Hubbard interaction. The topological phase diagrams depend on the combinations of substrates and the Hubbard interaction. The presence of the staggered sublattice potential favor the topological phase transition with small Rashba spin-orbital coupling strength. The presence of the Hubbard interaction modified the topological phase boundaries, increasing the minimal spin-orbital coupling strength for topological phase transition. A phase space of topological semi-metal with indirect band gap is identified in the non-interacting systems. For the bilayer graphene with different staggered sublattice potentials in the two layers, the conditions for the zigzag nanoribbons to host edge polarized chiral edge states are discussed. The conditions require moderate or vanishing Rashba spin-orbital coupling strength, as well as proper range of the gate voltage. The conditions for the systems with and without the Hubbard interaction are compared. The edge polarization can be controlled by the gate voltage.