No Arabic abstract
Graphene-based moir{e} systems have attracted considerable interest in recent years as they display a remarkable variety of correlated phenomena. Besides insulating and superconducting phases in the vicinity of integer fillings of the moir{e} unit cell, there is growing evidence for electronic nematic order both in twisted bilayer graphene and twisted double-bilayer graphene (tDBG), as signaled by the spontaneous breaking of the threefold rotational symmetry of the moir{e} superlattices. Here, we combine symmetry-based analysis with a microscopic continuum model to investigate the structure of the nematic phase of tDBG and its experimental manifestations. First, we perform a detailed comparison between the theoretically calculated local density of states and recent scanning tunneling microscopy data [arXiv:2009.11645] to resolve the internal structure of the nematic order parameter in terms of the layer, sublattice, spin, and valley degrees of freedom. We find strong evidence that the dominant contribution to the nematic order parameter comes from states at the moir{e} scale rather than at the microscopic scale of the individual graphene layers, which demonstrates the key role played by the moire degrees of freedom and confirms the correlated nature of the nematic phase in tDBG. Secondly, our analysis reveals an unprecedented tunability of the orientation of the nematic director in tDBG by an externally applied electric field, allowing the director to rotate away from high-symmetry crystalline directions. We compute the expected fingerprints of this rotation in both STM and transport experiments, providing feasible ways to probe it. Rooted in the strong sensitivity of the flat bands of tDBG to the displacement field, this effect opens an interesting route to the electrostatic control of electronic nematicity in moir{e} systems.
The discovery of interaction-driven insulating and superconducting phases in moire van der Waals heterostructures has sparked considerable interest in understanding the novel correlated physics of these systems. While a significant number of studies have focused on twisted bilayer graphene, correlated insulating states and a superconductivity-like transition up to 12 K have been reported in recent transport measurements of twisted double bilayer graphene. Here we present a scanning tunneling microscopy and spectroscopy study of gate-tunable twisted double bilayer graphene devices. We observe splitting of the van Hove singularity peak by ~20 meV at half-filling of the conduction flat band, with a corresponding reduction of the local density of states at the Fermi level. By mapping the tunneling differential conductance we show that this correlated system exhibits energetically split states that are spatially delocalized throughout the different regions in the moire unit cell, inconsistent with order originating solely from onsite Coulomb repulsion within strongly-localized orbitals. We have performed self-consistent Hartree-Fock calculations that suggest exchange-driven spontaneous symmetry breaking in the degenerate conduction flat band is the origin of the observed correlated state. Our results provide new insight into the nature of electron-electron interactions in twisted double bilayer graphene and related moire systems.
We study the effect of an in-plane magnetic field on the non-interacting dispersion of twisted bilayer graphene. Our analysis is rooted in the chirally symmetric continuum model, whose zero-field band structure hosts exactly flat bands and large energy gaps at the magic angles. At the first magic angle, the central bands respond to a parallel field by forming a quadratic band crossing point (QBCP) at the Moire Brillouin zone center. Over a large range of fields, the dispersion is invariant with an overall scale set by the magnetic field strength. For deviations from the magic angle and for realistic interlayer couplings, the motion and merging of the Dirac points lying near charge neutrality are discussed in the context of the symmetries, and we show that small magnetic fields are able to induce a qualitative change in the energy spectrum. We conclude with a discussion on the possible ramifications of our study to the interacting ground states of twisted bilayer graphene systems.
In this paper, the electronic properties of 30{deg} twisted double bilayer graphene, which loses the translational symmetry due to the incommensurate twist angle, are studied by means of the tight-binding approximation. We demonstrate the interlayer decoupling in the low-energy region from various electronic properties, such as the density of states, effective band structure, optical conductivity and Landau level spectrum. However, at Q points, the interlayer coupling results in the appearance of new Van Hove singularities in the density of states, new peaks in the optical conductivity and importantly the 12-fold-symmetry-like electronic states. The k-space tight-binding method is adopted to explain this phenomenon. The electronic states at Q points show the charge distribution patterns more complex than the 30{deg} twisted bilayer graphene due to the symmetry decrease. These phenomena appear also in the 30{deg} twisted interface between graphene monolayer and AB stacked bilayer.
In the magic angle twisted bilayer graphene (TBG), one of the most remarkable observations is the $C_3$-symmetry-breaking nematic state. We identify that the nematicity in TBG is the $E$-symmetry ferro bond order, which is the symmetry breaking in the effective hopping integrals. Thanks to the strong correlation and valley degree of freedom characteristics of the TBG, the nematicity in the TBG originates from prominent quantum interference among valley fluctuations and spin fluctuations. This novel valley + spin fluctuation interference mechanism also causes novel time-reversal-symmetry-broken valley polarization accompanied by a charge loop current. We discuss interesting similarities and differences between the TBG and Fe-based superconductors.
30$^{circ}$ twisted bilayer graphene demonstrates the quasicrystalline electronic states with 12-fold symmetry. These states are however far away from the Fermi level, which makes conventional Dirac fermion behavior dominating the low energy spectrum in this system. By using tight-binding approximation, we study the effect of external pressure and electric field on the quasicrystalline electronic states. Our results show that by applying the pressure perpendicular to graphene plane one can push the quasicrystalline electronic states towards the Fermi level. Then, the electron or hole doping of the order of $sim$ $4times10^{14}$ $cm^{-2}$ is sufficient for the coincidence of the Fermi level with these quasicrystalline states. Moreover, our study indicates that applying the electric field perpendicular to the graphene plane can destroy the 12-fold symmetry of these states and break the energy degeneracy of the 12-wave states, and it is easier to reach this in the conduction band than in the valence band. Importantly, the application of the pressure can recover the 12-fold symmetry of these states to some extent against the electric field. We propose a hybridization picture which can explain all these phenomena.