Absorption spectra of AA-stacked graphite

AA-stacked graphite shows strong anisotropy in geometric structures and velocity matrix elements. However, the absorption spectra are isotropic for the polarization vector on the graphene plane. The spectra exhibit one prominent plateau at middle energy and one shoulder structure at lower energy. These structures directly reflect the unique geometric and band structures and provide sufficient information for experimental fitting of the intralayer and interlayer atomic interactions. On the other hand, monolayer graphene shows a sharp absorption peak but no shoulder structure; AA-stacked bilayer graphene has two absorption peaks at middle energy and abruptly vanishes at lower energy. Furthermore, the isotropic features are expected to exist in other graphene-related systems. The calculated results and the predicted atomic interactions could be verified by optical measurements. 3 Authors to whom any correspondence should be addressed. New Journal of Physics 12 (2010) 08306