{"title":"Suppression of symmetry-breaking correlated insulators in a rhombohedral trilayer graphene superlattice","authors":"Xiangyan Han, Yuting Zou, Qianling Liu, Zhiyu Wang, Ruirui Niu, Zhuangzhuang Qu, Zhuoxian Li, Chunrui Han, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Baojuan Dong, Zhida Song, Jinhai Mao, Zheng Han, Zhi Gang Cheng, Zizhao Gan, Jianming Lu","doi":"10.1038/s41467-024-54200-6","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>Counterintuitive temperature dependence of isospin flavor polarization has recently been found in twisted bilayer graphene, where unpolarized electrons in a Fermi liquid become a spin–valley polarized insulator upon heating. So far, the effect has been limited to <i>v</i> = +/−1 (one electron/hole per superlattice cell), leaving open questions such as whether it is a general property of symmetry-breaking electronic phases. Here, by studying a rhombohedral trilayer graphene/boron nitride moiré superlattice, we report that at <i>v</i> = −3 a resistive peak emerges at elevated temperatures or in parallel magnetic fields. Concomitantly, the Hall carrier density tends to reset at the integer filling, signaling spin–valley flavor symmetry breaking. These phenomena can also be observed at <i>v</i> = −1 and −2 when the displacement field is large enough to suppress correlated insulators at low temperatures. Our results greatly expand the scope for observing the counterintuitive temperature dependence of flavor polarization, i.e., the regimes proximal to symmetry-breaking phases where the flavor polarization order strongly fluctuates, encouraging more experimental and theoretical exploration of isospin flavor polarization dynamics in flat-band moiré systems.</p>","PeriodicalId":19066,"journal":{"name":"Nature Communications","volume":"15 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":14.7000,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Nature Communications","FirstCategoryId":"103","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54200-6","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"综合性期刊","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"MULTIDISCIPLINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Counterintuitive temperature dependence of isospin flavor polarization has recently been found in twisted bilayer graphene, where unpolarized electrons in a Fermi liquid become a spin–valley polarized insulator upon heating. So far, the effect has been limited to v = +/−1 (one electron/hole per superlattice cell), leaving open questions such as whether it is a general property of symmetry-breaking electronic phases. Here, by studying a rhombohedral trilayer graphene/boron nitride moiré superlattice, we report that at v = −3 a resistive peak emerges at elevated temperatures or in parallel magnetic fields. Concomitantly, the Hall carrier density tends to reset at the integer filling, signaling spin–valley flavor symmetry breaking. These phenomena can also be observed at v = −1 and −2 when the displacement field is large enough to suppress correlated insulators at low temperatures. Our results greatly expand the scope for observing the counterintuitive temperature dependence of flavor polarization, i.e., the regimes proximal to symmetry-breaking phases where the flavor polarization order strongly fluctuates, encouraging more experimental and theoretical exploration of isospin flavor polarization dynamics in flat-band moiré systems.
最近,人们在扭曲双层石墨烯中发现了异空间味道极化的反直觉温度依赖性,即费米液体中的非极化电子在加热后会变成自旋谷极化绝缘体。迄今为止,这种效应仅限于 v = +/-1(每个超晶格单元有一个电子/空穴),因此还存在一些问题,例如它是否是对称性破坏电子相的一般特性。在这里,通过研究斜方三层石墨烯/氮化硼摩尔超晶格,我们发现在 v = -3 时,在高温或平行磁场中会出现一个电阻峰。同时,霍尔载流子密度趋向于在整数填充时重置,这表明自旋谷味道对称性被打破。当位移场大到足以在低温下抑制相关绝缘体时,在 v = -1 和 -2 时也能观察到这些现象。我们的结果极大地扩展了观察味道极化的反直觉温度依赖性的范围,即味道极化阶次强烈波动的对称性破缺阶段的临近区,鼓励对平带摩尔系统中的等空素味道极化动力学进行更多的实验和理论探索。
期刊介绍:
Nature Communications, an open-access journal, publishes high-quality research spanning all areas of the natural sciences. Papers featured in the journal showcase significant advances relevant to specialists in each respective field. With a 2-year impact factor of 16.6 (2022) and a median time of 8 days from submission to the first editorial decision, Nature Communications is committed to rapid dissemination of research findings. As a multidisciplinary journal, it welcomes contributions from biological, health, physical, chemical, Earth, social, mathematical, applied, and engineering sciences, aiming to highlight important breakthroughs within each domain.