No Arabic abstract
Recent experimental and theoretical investigations demonstrate that twisted trilayer graphene (tTLG) is a highly tunable platform to study the correlated insulating states, ferromagnetism, and superconducting properties. Here we explore the possibility of tuning electronic correlations of the tTLG via a vertical pressure. A full tight-binding model is used to accurately describe the pressure-dependent interlayer interactions. Our results show that pressure can push a relatively larger twist angle (for instance, $1.89^{circ}$) tTLG to reach the flat-band regime. Next, we obtain the relationship between the pressure-induced magic angle value and the critical pressure. These critical pressure values are almost half of that needed in the case of twisted bilayer graphene. Then, plasmonic properties are further investigated in the flat band tTLG with both zero-pressure magic angle and pressure-induced magic angle. Two plasmonic modes are detected in these two kinds of flat band samples. By comparison, one is a high energy damping-free plasmon mode that shows similar behavior, and the other is a low energy plasmon mode (flat-band plasmon) that shows obvious differences. The flat-band plasmon is contributed by both interband and intraband transitions of flat bands, and its divergence is due to the various shape of the flat bands in tTLG with zero-pressure and pressure-induced magic angles. This may provide an efficient way of tuning between regimes with strong and weak electronic interactions in one sample and overcoming the technical requirement of precise control of the twist angle in the study of correlated physics.
Moire quantum matter has emerged as a novel materials platform where correlated and topological phases can be explored with unprecedented control. Among them, magic-angle systems constructed from two or three layers of graphene have shown robust superconducting phases with unconventional characteristics. However, direct evidence for unconventional pairing remains to be experimentally demonstrated. Here, we show that magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene (MATTG) exhibits superconductivity up to in-plane magnetic fields in excess of 10 T, which represents a large ($2sim3$ times) violation of the Pauli limit for conventional spin-singlet superconductors. This observation is surprising for a system which is not expected to have strong spin-orbit coupling. Furthermore, the Pauli limit violation is observed over the entire superconducting phase, indicating that it is not related to a possible pseudogap phase with large superconducting amplitude pairing. More strikingly, we observe reentrant superconductivity at large magnetic fields, which is present in a narrower range of carrier density and displacement field. These findings suggest that the superconductivity in MATTG is likely driven by a mechanism resulting in non-spin-singlet Cooper pairs, where the external magnetic field can cause transitions between phases with potentially different order parameters. Our results showcase the richness of moire superconductivity and may pave a new route towards designing next-generation exotic quantum matter.
Magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene (MATTG) recently emerged as a highly tunable platform for studying correlated phases of matter, such as correlated insulators and superconductivity. Superconductivity occurs in a range of doping levels that is bounded by van Hove singularities which stimulates the debate of the origin and nature of superconductivity in this material. In this work, we discuss the role of spin-fluctuations arising from atomic-scale correlations in MATTG for the superconducting state. We show that in a phase diagram as function of doping ($ u$) and temperature, nematic superconducting regions are surrounded by ferromagnetic states and that a superconducting dome with $T_c approx 2,mathrm{K}$ appears between the integer fillings $ u =-2$ and $ u = -3$. Applying a perpendicular electric field enhances superconductivity on the electron-doped side which we relate to changes in the spin-fluctuation spectrum. We show that the nematic unconventional superconductivity leads to pronounced signatures in the local density of states detectable by scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements.
In the past two years, magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene has emerged as a uniquely versatile experimental platform that combines metallic, superconducting, magnetic and insulating phases in a single crystal. In particular the ability to tune the superconducting state with a gate voltage opened up intriguing prospects for novel device functionality. Here we present the first demonstration of a device based on the interplay between two distinct phases in adjustable regions of a single magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene crystal. We electrostatically define the superconducting and insulating regions of a Josephson junction and observe tunable DC and AC Josephson effects. We show that superconductivity is induced in different electronic bands and describe the junction behaviour in terms of these bands, taking in consideration interface effects as well. Shapiro steps, a hallmark of the AC Josephson effect and therefore the formation of a Josephson junction, are observed. This work is an initial step towards devices where separate gate-defined correlated states are connected in single-crystal nanostructures. We envision applications in superconducting electronics and quantum information technology as well as in studies exploring the nature of the superconducting state in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene.
Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MtBLG) has proven to be an extremely promising new platform to realize and study a host of emergent quantum phases arising from the strong correlations in its narrow bandwidth flat band. In this regard, thermal transport phenomena like thermopower, in addition to being coveted technologically, is also sensitive to the particle-hole (PH) asymmetry, making it a crucial tool to probe the underlying electronic structure of this material. We have carried out thermopower measurements of MtBLG as a function of carrier density, temperature and magnetic field, and report the observation of an unusually large thermopower reaching up to a value as high as $sim bf{100mu V/K}$ at a low temperature of 1K. Surprisingly, our observed thermopower exhibiting peak-like features in close correspondence to the resistance peaks around the integer Moire fillings, including the Dirac Point, violating the Mott formula. %Surprisingly, our observed thermopower exhibits peak-like features in close correspondence to the resistance peaks around the integer Moire fillings, including the Dirac Point, which completely violates the Mott formula. We show that the large thermopower peaks and their %non-monotonic dependence with temperature and magnetic field associated behaviour arise from the emergent highly PH asymmetric electronic structure due to the cascade of Dirac revivals. Furthermore, the thermopower shows an anomalous peak around the superconducting transition on the hole side and points towards the possible role of enhanced superconducting fluctuations in MtBLG.
It has recently been shown that superconductivity in magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene survives to in-plane magnetic fields that are well in excess of the Pauli limit, and much stronger than the in-plane critical magnetic fields of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene. The difference is surprising because twisted bilayers and trilayers both support the magic-angle flat bands thought to be the fountainhead of twisted graphene superconductivity. We show here that the difference in critical magnetic fields can be traced to a $mathcal{C}_2 mathcal{M}_{h}$ symmetry in trilayers that survives in-plane magnetic fields, and also relative displacements between top and bottom layers that are not under experimental control at present. An gate electric field breaks the $mathcal{C}_2 mathcal{M}_{h}$ symmetry and therefore limits the in-plane critical magnetic field.