Researchers observe translation symmetry breaking in twisted bilayer graphene

Date posted
Funding Agency
(Funded by the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy, and the U.S. Department of Defense)

Researchers at Harvard University, MIT, and the National Institute for Materials Science in Japan have carried out a study aimed at investigating Chern insulator ground states in twisted bilayer graphene. In Chern insulator ground states, the bulk of the material is insulating, yet electrons can propagate along the edges without dissipating heat. The researchers provide evidence of the existence of a sequence of incompressible states with unpredicted Chern numbers in twisted bilayer graphene.