Hao Chen-Yue, Zhan Zhen, Pantaleón Pierre A, He Jia-Qi, Zhao Ya-Xin, Watanabe Kenji, Taniguchi Takashi, Guinea Francisco, He Lin
Center for Advanced Quantum Studies, School of Physics and Astronomy, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China.
Key Laboratory of Multiscale Spin Physics, Ministry of Education, Beijing, 100875, China.
Nat Commun. 2024 Sep 30;15(1):8437. doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-52784-7.
Moiré structures formed by twisting three layers of graphene with two independent twist angles present an ideal platform for studying correlated quantum phenomena, as an infinite set of angle pairs is predicted to exhibit flat bands. Moreover, the two mutually incommensurate moiré patterns among the twisted trilayer graphene (TTG) can form highly tunable moiré quasicrystals. This enables us to extend correlated physics in periodic moiré crystals to quasiperiodic systems. However, direct local characterization of the structure of the moiré quasicrystals and of the resulting flat bands are still lacking, which is crucial to fundamental understanding and control of the correlated moiré physics. Here, we demonstrate the existence of flat bands in a series of TTGs with various twist angle pairs and show that the TTGs with different magic angle pairs are strikingly dissimilar in their atomic and electronic structures. The lattice relaxation and the interference between moiré patterns are highly dependent on the twist angles. Our direct spatial mappings, supported by theoretical calculations, reveal that the localization of the flat bands exhibits distinct symmetries in different regions of the moiré quasicrystals.
通过以两个独立的扭转角扭曲三层石墨烯形成的莫尔条纹结构,为研究相关量子现象提供了一个理想的平台,因为预计有无限组角度对会呈现出平带。此外,扭曲的三层石墨烯(TTG)中两个相互不相称的莫尔条纹图案可以形成高度可调谐的莫尔准晶体。这使我们能够将周期性莫尔晶体中的相关物理扩展到准周期系统。然而,仍然缺乏对莫尔准晶体结构以及由此产生的平带的直接局部表征,这对于深入理解和控制相关的莫尔物理至关重要。在这里,我们证明了一系列具有不同扭转角对的TTG中存在平带,并表明具有不同魔角对的TTG在其原子和电子结构上存在显著差异。晶格弛豫和莫尔条纹图案之间的干涉高度依赖于扭转角。我们在理论计算的支持下进行的直接空间映射揭示,平带的局域化在莫尔准晶体的不同区域表现出不同的对称性。