Topological electronic crystals in twisted bilayer-trilayer graphene
Abstract
In a dilute two-dimensional electron gas, Coulomb interactions can stabilize the formation of a Wigner crystal. Although Wigner crystals are topologically trivial, it has been predicted that electrons in a partially-filled band can break continuous translational symmetry and time-reversal symmetry spontaneously to form a form of topological electron crystal known as an anomalous Hall crystal. Here, we report the observation of a generalized version of the anomalous Hall crystal in twisted bilayer-trilayer graphene, whose formation is driven by the moire potential. The crystal forms at a band filling factor of one electron per four moir\'e unit cells () and quadruples the unit-cell area, coinciding with an integer quantum anomalous Hall effect. The Chern number of the state is exceptionally tunable, and can be switched reversibly between and by electric and magnetic fields. Several other topological electronic crystals arise in a modest magnetic field, originating from , , , and . The quantum geometry of the folded bands is likely very different from that of the original parent band, enabling possible future discoveries of correlation-driven topological phenomena
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2406.17766,
title = {Topological electronic crystals in twisted bilayer-trilayer graphene},
author = {Ruiheng Su and Dacen Waters and Boran Zhou and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi and Ya-Hui Zhang and Matthew Yankowitz and Joshua Folk},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.17766},
year = {2025}
}