Editors' Suggestion: Bilayer Graphene Allows for Highly Tunable Setups

Dr. Ghorashi, a postdoc in Dr. Jen Cano's group, along with collaborating professor Dr. Xu Du and graduate students Aaron Dunbrack and Jiacheng Sun, have published a paper in PRL that has been selected as an Editors' Suggestion. Being selected for this honor highlights the submission's particular importance, innovation, and broad appeal.

(a) The proposed experimental setup of the various materials needed to tune the displacement field (b) Schematic phase diagram showing the stacked and topological flat bands

The research is focused on objects called Moiré heterostructures. In recent years, these materials have attracted wide interest due to their many interesting properties driven by the behavior of the electrons within -- from superconductivity to various forms of insulation to a crystalline form of electrons called a Wigner crystal.

These interesting behaviors are emergent phenomena resulting from "flat bands" that describe the energy state of the electrons. The novel structure proposed in the article makes achieving these flat bands easier, for better study of a variety of phenomena.

These results motivate further experimental of bilayer graphene in similar structures for fine-tuned control over the resulting physics. The possibility of superconducting phases (known to exist in twisted bilayer graphene) that can be controlled is of interest for many fields, as well as industrial purposes.

The published article may be found here.