The discovery of magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene (tTLG) adds a new twist to the family of graphene moire. The additional graphene layer unlocks a series of intriguing properties in the superconducting phase, such as the violation of Pauli limit and re-entrant superconductivity at large in-plane magnetic field. In this work, we integrate magic-angle tTLG into a double-layer structure to study the superconducting phase. Utilizing proximity screening from the adjacent metallic layer, we examine the stability of the superconducting phase and demonstrate that Coulomb repulsion competes against the mechanism underlying Cooper pairing. Furthermore, we use a combination of transport and thermodynamic measurements to probe the isospin order, which shows that the isospin configuration at half moire filling, and for the nearby fermi surface, is spin-polarized and valley-unpolarized. In addition, we show that valley isospin plays a dominating role in the Pomeranchuk effect, whereas the spin degree of freedom is frozen, which indicates small valley isospin stiffness and large spin stiffness in tTLG. Taken together, our findings provide important constraints for theoretical models aiming to understand the nature of superconductivity. A possible scenario is that electron-phonon coupling stabilizes a superconducting phase with a spin-triplet, valley singlet order parameter.
Non-equilibrium dynamics of strongly correlated systems constitutes a fascinating problem of condensed matter physics with many open questions. Here we investigate the relaxation dynamics of Landau-quantized electron system into spin-valley polarized ground state in a gate-tunable MoSe$_2$ monolayer subjected to a strong magnetic field. The system is driven out of equilibrium with optically injected excitons that depolarize the electron spins and the subsequent electron spin-valley relaxation is probed in time-resolved experiments. We demonstrate that the relaxation rate at millikelvin temperatures sensitively depends on the Landau level filling factor: it becomes faster whenever the electrons form an integer quantum Hall liquid and slows down appreciably at non-integer fillings. Our findings evidence that valley relaxation dynamics may be used as a tool to investigate the interplay between the effects of disorder and strong interactions in the electronic ground state.
A quantum spin liquid (QSL) is an exotic state of matter characterized by quantum entanglement and the absence of any broken symmetry. A long-standing open problem, which is a key for fundamental understanding the mysterious QSL states, is how the quantum fluctuations respond to randomness due to quenched disorder. Transition metal dichalcogenide 1T-TaS$_2$ is a candidate material that hosts a QSL ground state with spin-1/2 on the two-dimensional perfect triangular lattice. Here, we performed systematic studies of low-temperature heat capacity and thermal conductivity on pure, Se-substituted and electron irradiated crystals of 1T-TaS$_2$. In pure 1T-TaS$_2$, the linear temperature term of the heat capacity $gamma T$ and the finite residual linear term of the thermal conductivity in the zero-temperature limit $kappa_{0}/Tequivkappa/T(Trightarrow0)$ are clearly resolved, consistent with the presence of gapless spinons with a Fermi surface. Moreover, while the strong magnetic field slightly enhances $kappa_0/T$, it strongly suppresses $gamma$. These unusual contrasting responses to magnetic field imply the coexistence of two types of gapless excitations with itinerant and localized characters. Introduction of additional weak random exchange disorder in 1T-Ta(S$_{1-x}$Se$_x$)$_2$ leads to vanishing of $kappa_0/T$, indicating that the itinerant gapless excitations are sensitive to the disorder. On the other hand, in both pure and Se-substituted systems, the magnetic contribution of the heat capacity obeys a universal scaling relation, which is consistent with a theory that assumes the presence of localized orphan spins forming random singlets. Electron irradiation in pure 1T-TaS$_2$ largely enhances $gamma$ and changes the scaling function dramatically, suggesting a possible new state of spin liquid.
The development of valleytronics demands long-range electronic transport with preserved valley index, a degree of freedom similar to electron spin. A promising structure for this end is a topological one-dimensional (1D) channel formed in bilayer graphene (BLG) under special electrostatic conditions or specific stacking configuration, called domain wall (DW). In these 1D channels, the valley-index defines the propagation direction of the charge carriers and the chiral edge states (kink states) are robust over many kinds of disorder. However, the fabrication of DWs is challenging, requiring the design of complex multi-gate structures or have been producing on rough substrates, showing a limited mean free path. Here, we report on a high-quality DW formed at the curved boundary of folded bilayer graphene (folded-BLG). At such 1D conducting channel we measured a two-terminal resistance close to the quantum resistance $R = e^2/4h$ at zero magnetic field, a signature of kink states. Our experiments reveal a long-range ballistic transport regime that occurs only at the DW of the folded-BLG, while the other regions behave like semiconductors with tunable band gap.
We investigated the dynamics of a novel design of spin torque oscillator (STO) for microwave assisted magnetic recording. Using Ni$_{80}$Fe$_{20}$ (NiFe) as the polarizer and Fe$_{67}$Co$_{33}$ (FeCo) as the field generating layer, we experimentally observed the magnetization reversal of NiFe, followed by multiple signals in the power spectra as the bias voltage increased. The signals reflected the out-of-plane precession (OPP) mode oscillation of both FeCo and NiFe, as well as the magnetoresistance effect of the STO device, which had the frequency equal to the difference between the oscillation frequency of NiFe and FeCo. Such dynamics were reproduced by micromagnetic simulation. In addition to the merit of realizing the OPP mode oscillation with a simple and thin structure suitable for a narrow gap recording head, the experimental results using this design suggested that a large cone angle of $sim$ 70$^{circ}$ for the OPP mode oscillation of FeCo was achieved, which was estimated based on the macrospin model.
Heterostructures formed by stacking layered materials require atomically clean interfaces. However, contaminants are usually trapped between the layers, aggregating into blisters. We report a process to remove such blisters, resulting in clean interfaces. We fabricate blister-free regions of graphene encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride of$sim$5000$mu $m$^{2}$, limited only by the size of the exfoliated flakes. These have mobilities up to$sim$180000cm$^2$V$^{-1}$s$^{-1}$ at room temperature, and$sim$1.8$times$10$^6$cm$^2$V$^{-1}$s$^{-1}$ at 9K. We further demonstrate the effectiveness of our approach by cleaning heterostructures assembled using graphene intentionally exposed to polymers and solvents. After cleaning, these samples reach similar high mobilities. We also showcase the general applicability of our approach to layered materials by cleaning blisters in other heterostructures based on MoS$_{2}$. This demonstrates that exposure of graphene to processing-related contaminants is compatible with the realization of high mobility samples, paving the way to the development of fab-based processes for the integration of layered materials in (opto)-electronic devices.
We study the infrared cyclotron resonance of high mobility monolayer graphene encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride, and simultaneously observe several narrow resonance lines due to interband Landau level transitions. By holding the magnetic field strength, $B$, constant while tuning the carrier density, $n$, we find the transition energies show a pronounced non-monotonic dependence on the Landau level filling factor, $ upropto n/B$. This constitutes direct evidence that electron-electron interactions contribute to the Landau level transition energies in graphene, beyond the single-particle picture. Additionally, a splitting occurs in transitions to or from the lowest Landau level, which is interpreted as a Dirac mass arising from coupling of the graphene and boron nitride lattices.
FeSe has a unique ground state in which superconductivity coexists with a nematic order without long-range magnetic ordering at ambient pressure. Here, to study how the pairing interaction evolves with nematicity, we measured the thermal conductivity and specific heat of FeSe$_{1-x}$S$_x$, where the nematicity is suppressed by isoelectronic sulfur substitution. We find that in the whole nematic ($0leq x leq 0.17$) and tetragonal ($x=0.20$) regimes, the application of small magnetic field causes a steep increase of both quantities. This indicates the existence of deep minima or line nodes in the superconducting gap function, implying that the pairing interaction is significantly anisotropic in both the nematic and the tetragonal regimes. Moreover, the present results indicate that the position of gap minima/nodes in the tetragonal regime appears to be essentially different from that in the nematic regime. These results place an important constraint on current theories.
Electron tunneling spectroscopy measurements on van der Waals heterostructures consisting of metal and graphene (or graphite) electrodes separated by atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride tunnel barriers are reported. The tunneling conductance dI/dV at low voltages is relatively weak, with a strong enhancement reproducibly observed to occur at around |V| ~ 50 mV. While the weak tunneling at low energies is attributed to the absence of substantial overlap, in momentum space, of the metal and graphene Fermi surfaces, the enhancement at higher energies signals the onset of inelastic processes in which phonons in the heterostructure provide the momentum necessary to link the Fermi surfaces. Pronounced peaks in the second derivative of the tunnel current, are observed at voltages where known phonon modes in the tunnel junction have a high density of states. In addition, features in the tunneling conductance attributed to single electron charging of nanometer-scale defects in the boron nitride are also observed in these devices. The small electronic density of states of graphene allows the charging spectra of these defect states to be electrostatically tuned, leading to Coulomb diamonds in the tunneling conductance.
Spatially indirect excitons can be created when an electron and a hole, confined to separate layers of a double quantum well system, bind to form a composite Boson. Because there is no recombination pathway such excitons are long lived making them accessible to transport studies. Moreover, the ability to independently tune both the intralayer charge density and interlayer electron-hole separation provides the capability to reach the low-density, strongly interacting regime where a BEC-like phase transition into a superfluid ground state is anticipated. To date, transport signatures of the superfluid condensate phase have been seen only in quantum Hall bilayers composed of double well GaAs heterostructures. Here we report observation of the exciton condensate in the quantum Hall effect regime of double layer structures of bilayer graphene. Correlation between the layers is identified by quantized Hall drag appearing at matched layer densities, and the dissipationless nature of the phase is confirmed in the counterflow geometry. Independent tuning of the layer densities and interlayer bias reveals a selection rule involving both the orbital and valley quantum number between the symmetry-broken states of bilayer graphene and the condensate phase, while tuning the layer imbalance stabilizes the condensate to temperatures in excess of 4K. Our results establish bilayer graphene quantum wells as an ideal system in which to study the rich phase diagram of strongly interacting Bosonic particles in the solid state.
