No Arabic abstract
When bilayer graphene is rotationally faulted to an angle $thetaapprox 1.1^circ$, theory predicts the formation of a flat electronic band and correlated insulating, superconducting, and ferromagnetic states have all been observed at partial band filling. The proximity of superconductivity to correlated insulators has suggested a close relationship between these states, reminiscent of the cuprates where superconductivity arises by doping a Mott insulator. Here, we show that superconductivity can appear without correlated insulating states. While both superconductivity and correlated insulating behavior are strongest near the flat band condition, superconductivity survives to larger detuning of the angle. Our observations are consistent with a competing phases picture, in which insulators and superconductivity arise from disparate mechanisms.
We introduce and analyze a model that sheds light on the interplay between correlated insulating states, superconductivity, and flavor-symmetry breaking in magic angle twisted bilayer graphene. Using a variational mean-field theory, we determine the normal-state phase diagram of our model as a function of the band filling. The model features robust insulators at even integer fillings, occasional weaker insulators at odd integer fillings, and a pattern of flavor-symmetry breaking at non-integer fillings. Adding a phonon-mediated inter-valley retarded attractive interaction, we obtain strong-coupling superconducting domes, whose structure is in qualitative agreement with experiments. Our model elucidates how the intricate form of the interactions and the particle-hole asymmetry of the electronic structure determine the phase diagram. It also explains how subtle differences between devices may lead to the different behaviors observed experimentally. A similar model can be applied with minor modifications to other moir{e} systems, such as twisted trilayer graphene.
When twisted to angles near 1{deg}, graphene multilayers provide a new window on electron correlation physics by hosting gate-tuneable strongly-correlated states, including insulators, superconductors, and unusual magnets. Here we report the discovery of a new member of the family, density-wave states, in double bilayer graphene twisted to 2.37{deg}. At this angle the moire states retain much of their isolated bilayer character, allowing their bilayer projections to be separately controlled by gates. We use this property to generate an energetic overlap between narrow isolated electron and hole bands with good nesting properties. Our measurements reveal the formation of ordered states with reconstructed Fermi surfaces, consistent with density-wave states, for equal electron and hole densities. These states can be tuned without introducing chemical dopants, thus opening the door to a new class of fundamental studies of density-waves and their interplay with superconductivity and other types of order, a central issue in quantum matter physics.
Topological insulators realized in materials with strong spin-orbit interactions challenged the long-held view that electronic materials are classified as either conductors or insulators. The emergence of controlled, two-dimensional moire patterns has opened new vistas in the topological materials landscape. Here we report on evidence, obtained by combining thermodynamic measurements, local and non-local transport measurements, and theoretical calculations, that robust topologically non-trivial, valley Chern insulators occur at charge neutrality in twisted double-bilayer graphene (TDBG). These time reversal-conserving valley Chern insulators are enabled by valley-number conservation, a symmetry that emerges from the moire pattern. The thermodynamic gap extracted from chemical potential measurements proves that TDBG is a bulk insulator under transverse electric field, while transport measurements confirm the existence of conducting edge states. A Landauer-Buttiker analysis of measurements on multi-terminal samples allows us to quantitatively assess edge state scattering and demonstrate that it does not destroy the edge states, leaving the bulk-boundary correspondence largely intact.
We theoretically study the Hofstadter butterfly of a triangular network model in minimally twisted bilayer graphene (mTBLG). The band structure manifests periodicity in energy, mimicking that of Floquet systems. The butterfly diagrams provide fingerprints of the model parameters and reveal the hidden band topology. In a strong magnetic field, we establish that mTBLG realizes low-energy Floquet topological insulators (FTIs) carrying zero Chern number, while hosting chiral edge states in bulk gaps. We identify the FTIs by analyzing the nontrivial spectral flow in the Hofstadter butterfly, and by explicitly computing the chiral edge states. Our theory paves the way for an effective practical realization of FTIs in equilibrium solid state systems.
Twisted graphene bilayers provide a versatile platform to engineer metamaterials with novel emergent properties by exploiting the resulting geometric moir{e} superlattice. Such superlattices are known to host bulk valley currents at tiny angles ($alphaapprox 0.3 ^circ$) and flat bands at magic angles ($alpha approx 1^circ$). We show that tuning the twist angle to $alpha^*approx 0.8^circ$ generates flat bands away from charge neutrality with a triangular superlattice periodicity. When doped with $pm 6$ electrons per moire cell, these bands are half-filled and electronic interactions produce a symmetry-broken ground state (Stoner instability) with spin-polarized regions that order ferromagnetically. Application of an interlayer electric field breaks inversion symmetry and introduces valley-dependent dispersion that quenches the magnetic order. With these results, we propose a solid-state platform that realizes electrically tunable strong correlations.