Intervalley-Coupled Twisted Bilayer Graphene from Substrate Commensuration

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Hauptverfasser: Chen, Bo-Ting, Scheer, Michael G., Lian, Biao
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
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author Chen, Bo-Ting
Scheer, Michael G.
Lian, Biao
author_facet Chen, Bo-Ting
Scheer, Michael G.
Lian, Biao
contents We show that intervalley coupling can be induced in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) by aligning the bottom graphene layer with either of two types of commensurate insulating triangular Bravais lattice substrate. The intervalley coupling folds the $\pm K$ valleys of TBG to the $Γ$-point and hybridizes the original TBG flat bands into a four-band model equivalent to the $p_x$-$p_y$ orbital honeycomb lattice model, in which the second conduction and valence bands have quadratic band touchings and can become flat due to geometric frustration. The spin-orbit coupling from the substrate opens gaps between the bands, yielding topological bands with spin Chern numbers $\mathcal{C}$ up to $\pm 4$. For realistic substrate potential strengths, the minimal bandwidths of the hybridized flat bands are still achieved around the TBG magic angle $θ_M=1.05^\circ$, and their quantum metrics are nearly ideal. We identify two candidate substrate materials Sb$_2$Te$_3$ and GeSb$_2$Te$_4$, which nearly perfectly realize the commensurate lattice constant ratio of $\sqrt{3}$ with graphene. These systems provide a promising platform for exploring strongly correlated topological states driven by geometric frustration.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_03869
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Intervalley-Coupled Twisted Bilayer Graphene from Substrate Commensuration
Chen, Bo-Ting
Scheer, Michael G.
Lian, Biao
Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
We show that intervalley coupling can be induced in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) by aligning the bottom graphene layer with either of two types of commensurate insulating triangular Bravais lattice substrate. The intervalley coupling folds the $\pm K$ valleys of TBG to the $Γ$-point and hybridizes the original TBG flat bands into a four-band model equivalent to the $p_x$-$p_y$ orbital honeycomb lattice model, in which the second conduction and valence bands have quadratic band touchings and can become flat due to geometric frustration. The spin-orbit coupling from the substrate opens gaps between the bands, yielding topological bands with spin Chern numbers $\mathcal{C}$ up to $\pm 4$. For realistic substrate potential strengths, the minimal bandwidths of the hybridized flat bands are still achieved around the TBG magic angle $θ_M=1.05^\circ$, and their quantum metrics are nearly ideal. We identify two candidate substrate materials Sb$_2$Te$_3$ and GeSb$_2$Te$_4$, which nearly perfectly realize the commensurate lattice constant ratio of $\sqrt{3}$ with graphene. These systems provide a promising platform for exploring strongly correlated topological states driven by geometric frustration.
title Intervalley-Coupled Twisted Bilayer Graphene from Substrate Commensuration
topic Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics
Materials Science
Strongly Correlated Electrons
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.03869