Interlayer screening effect in graphene multilayers with ABA and ABC stacking

We study the effect of perpendicular electric fields on the band structures of ABA and ABC graphene multilayers, and find that the electronic screening effect is significantly different between them. In ABA multilayers, the field produces a band overlap and gives a linear screening, while in ABC multilayers, in contrast, it opens an energy gap in the surface-state band at low energy, leading to a strong screening effect essentially nonlinear to the field amplitude. The energy gap of a large ABC stack sharply rises when the external field exceeds a certain critical value.