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Abstract Fractional Chern insulators (FCIs) are lattice analogues of fractional quantum Hall states that may provide a new avenue towards manipulating non-Abelian excitations. Early theoretical studies 1–7 have predicted their existence in systems with flat Chern bands and highlighted the critical role of a particular quantum geometry. However, FCI states have been observed only in Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) aligned with hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) 8 , in which a very large magnetic field is responsible for the existence of the Chern bands, precluding the realization of FCIs at zero field. By contrast, magic-angle twisted BLG 9–12 supports flat Chern bands at zero magnetic field 13–17 , and therefore offers a promising route towards stabilizing zero-field FCIs. Here we report the observation of eight FCI states at low magnetic field in magic-angle twisted BLG enabled by high-resolution local compressibility measurements. The first of these states emerge at 5 T, and their appearance is accompanied by the simultaneous disappearance of nearby topologically trivial charge density wave states. We demonstrate that, unlike the case of the BLG/hBN platform, the principal role of the weak magnetic field is merely to redistribute the Berry curvature of the native Chern bands and thereby realize a quantum geometry favourable for the emergence of FCIs. Our findings strongly suggest that FCIs may be realized at zero magnetic field and pave the way for the exploration and manipulation of anyonic excitations in flat moiré Chern bands.
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Inducing topological flat bands in bilayer graphene with electric and magnetic superlattices
It was recently argued that Bernal stacked bilayer graphene (BLG) exposed to a two-dimensional superlattice (SL) potential exhibits a variety of intriguing behaviors [Ghorashi et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 130, 196201 (2023)]. Chief among them is the appearance of flat Chern bands that are favorable to the appearance of fractional Chern insulator states. Here, we explore the application of spatially periodic out-of-plane orbital magnetic fields to the model of Ghorashi et al. to find additional means of inducing flat Chern bands. We focus on fields that vary on length scales much larger than the atomic spacing in BLG, generating what we refer to as magnetic SLs. The magnetic SLs we investigate either introduce no net magnetic flux to the SL unit cell or a single quantum of flux. We find that magnetic SLs acting on their own can induce topological flat bands, but richer behavior, such as the appearance of flat and generic bands with high Chern numbers, can be observed when the magnetic SLs act in conjunction with commensurate electric SLs. Finally, we propose a method of generating unit-flux-quantum magnetic SLs along with concomitant electric SLs. The magnetic SL is generated by periodic arrays of flux vortices originating from type II superconductors, while the electric SL arises due to a magnetic SL-induced charge density on the surface of a magnetoelectric material. Tuning the vortex lattice and the magnetoelectric coupling permits control of both SLs, and we study their effects on the band structure of BLG.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1954856
- PAR ID:
- 10553955
- Publisher / Repository:
- Physical Review
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review B
- Volume:
- 110
- Issue:
- 20
- ISSN:
- 2469-9950
- Subject(s) / Keyword(s):
- bilayer graphene magnetic field topological flat bands
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.110.205115
