Unbalanced edge modes and topological phase transition in gated trilayer graphene

Gapless edge modes hosted by chirally stacked trilayer graphene display unique features when a bulk gap is opened by applying an interlayer potential difference. We show that trilayer graphene with half-integer valley Hall conductivity leads to unbalanced edge modes at opposite zigzag boundaries, resulting in a natural valley current polarizer. This unusual characteristic is preserved in the presence of Rashba spin-orbit coupling that turns a gated trilayer graphene into a Z₂ topological insulator with an odd number of helical edge mode pairs.