We study spin effects of quantum wires formed in bilayer graphene by electrostatic confinement. With a proper choice of the confinement direction, we show that in the presence of magnetic field, spin-orbit interaction induced by curvature, and intervalley scattering, bound states emerge that are helical. The localization length of these helical states can be modulated by the gate voltage which enables the control of the tunnel coupling between two parallel wires. Allowing for proximity effect via an s-wave superconductor, we show that the helical modes give rise to Majorana fermions in bilayer graphene.
A quantum Hall edge state provides a rich foundation to study electrons in 1-dimension (1d) but is limited to chiral propagation along a single direction. Here, we demonstrate a versatile platform to realize new 1d systems made by combining quantum Hall edge states of opposite chiralities in a graphene electron-hole bilayer. Using this approach, we engineer helical 1d edge conductors where the counterpropagating modes are localized in separate electron and hole layers by a tunable electric field. These helical conductors exhibit strong nonlocal transport signals and suppressed backscattering d…
In the presence of a finite interlayer displacement field bilayer graphene has an energy gap that is dependent on stacking and largest for the stable AB and BA stacking arrangements. When the relative orientations between layers are twisted through a small angle to form a moir$\mathrm{\acute{e}}$ pattern, the local stacking arrangement changes slowly. We show that for non-zero displacement fields the low-energy physics of twisted bilayers is captured by a phenomenological helical network model that describes electrons localized on domain walls separating regions with approximate AB and BA stac…
In minimally twisted bilayer graphene, a moir{é} pattern consisting of AB and BA stacking regions separated by domain walls forms. These domain walls are predicted to support counterpropogating topologically protected helical (TPH) edge states when the AB and BA regions are gapped. We fabricate designer moir{é} crystals with wavelengths longer than 50 nm and demonstrate the emergence of TPH states on the domain wall network by scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements. We observe a double-line profile of the TPH states on the domain walls, only occurring when the AB and BA regions are gappe…
We measure microwave photocurrent in devices made from InAs/GaInSb bilayers where both insulating bulk state and conducting edge state were observed in the inverted-band regime, consistent with the theoretical prediction for a quantum spin Hall (QSH) insulator. It has been theoretically proposed that microwave photocurrent could be a unique probe in studying the properties of QSH edge states. To distinguish possible photoresponse between bulk state and helical edge state, we prepare Hall bar and Corbino disk from the same wafer. Results show that the Corbino disk samples have a negligible phot…
We propose a new kind of geometric effective theory based on curved space-time single valley Dirac theory with spin connection for twisted bilayer graphene under generic twist angle. This model can reproduce the nearly flat bands with particle-hole symmetry around the first magic angle. The band width is near the former results given by Bistritzer-MacDonald model or density matrix renormalization group. Even more, such geometric formalism allows one to predict the properties of rotating bilayer graphene which cannot be accessed by former theories. As an example, we investigate the Bott index o…
The development of valleytronics demands long-range electronic transport with preserved valley index, a degree of freedom similar to electron spin. A promising structure for this end is a topological one-dimensional (1D) channel formed in bilayer graphene (BLG) under special electrostatic conditions or specific stacking configuration, called domain wall (DW). In these 1D channels, the valley-index defines the propagation direction of the charge carriers and the chiral edge states (kink states) are robust over many kinds of disorder. However, the fabrication of DWs is challenging, requiring the…
Topological insulators, along with Chern insulators and Quantum Hall insulator phases, are considered as paradigms for symmetry protected topological phases of matter. This article reports the experimental realization of the time-reversal invariant helical edge-modes in bilayer graphene/monolayer WSe$_2$-based heterostructures -- a phase generally considered as a precursor to the field of generic topological insulators. Our observation of this elusive phase depended crucially on our ability to create mesoscopic devices comprising both a moiré superlattice potential and strong spin-orbit coupli…
It is well-known that the ground state of homogeneous superconducting systems with spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the presence of the Zeeman field is the so-called helical state, which is characterized by the phase modulation of the order parameter, but zero supercurrent density. In this work we investigate the realization of the helical state in a hybrid system with spatially separated superconductivity and exchange field by considering S/F bilayer on top of a 3D topological insulator. This system is characterized by strong spin-momentum locking and, consequently, provides the most favorable co…
Motivated by a recent experiment (Sanchez-Yamagishi et.al, arXiv:1602.06815) reporting evidence of helical spin-polarized edge states in layer-biased twisted bilayer graphene under a magnetic flux, we study the possibility of stabilising a Quantum Spin Hall (QSH) phase in such a system, without Zeeman or spin-orbit couplings, and with a QSH gap induced instead by electronic interactions. We analyse how magnetic flux, electric field, interlayer rotation angle, and interactions (treated at a mean field level) combine to produce a pseudo-QSH with broken time-reversal symmetry, and spin-polarized …
Theory predicts that the application of an electric field breaks the inversion symmetry of AB and BA stacked domains in twisted bilayer graphene, resulting in the formation of a triangular network of one-dimensional valley-protected helical states. This two-dimensional network of one-dimensional states has been observed in several studies, but direct experimental evidence that the electronic transport in these one-dimensional states is valley-protected is still lacking. In this study, we report the existence of the network in small-angle twisted bilayer graphene at room temperature. Moreover, …
The magnetoelectric effects in the surface states of the 3D TI are extremely strong due to the full spin-momentum locking. Here the microscopic theory of S/3D TI bilayer structures in terms of quasiclassical Green's functions is developed. On the basis of the developed formalism it is shown that the DOS in the S/TI bilayer manifests giant magnetoelectric behavior and, as a result, S/3D TI heterostructures can work as non-magnetic fully electrically controllable spin filters. It is shown that due to the full spin-momentum locking the amplitudes of the odd-frequency singlet and triplet component…
Supermoiré domain-resolved effective Hamiltonians and valley topology in helical multilayer graphene
Seoul National University（首尔大学）；Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (ICN2), CSIC and BIST（加泰罗尼亚纳米科学和纳米技术研究所（ICN2，西班牙高等科学研究委员会和巴塞罗那独立系统大学））；University of Seoul（首尔大学）
We theoretically study the electronic structure of small-angle twisted bilayer graphene with a large potential asymmetry between the top and bottom layers. We show that the emergent helical states known to appear on the triangular AB-BA domain boundary do not actually form a percolating network, but instead they provide independent, perfect one-dimensional channels propagating in three different directions. Using the continuum-model Hamiltonian, we demonstrate that an applied bias causes two well-defined energy windows which contain sparsely distributed one-dimensional channels. The origin of …
We consider a setup consisting of two coupled sheets of bilayer graphene in the regime of strong spin-orbit interaction, where electrostatic confinement is used to create an array of effective quantum wires. We show that for suitable interwire couplings the system supports a topological insulator phase exhibiting Kramers partners of gapless helical edge states, while the additional presence of a small in-plane magnetic field and weak proximity-induced superconductivity leads to the emergence of zero-energy Majorana corner states at all four corners of a rectangular sample, indicating the trans…
Spintronics is an analogue to electronics where spin of the electron rather than its charge is functionally controlled for devices. The generation and detection of spin current without ferromagnetic or exotic/scarce materials are two the biggest challenges for spintronics devices. In this study, we report a solution to the two problems of spin current generation and detection in Si. Using non-local measurement, we experimentally demonstrate the generation of helical dissipationless spin current using spin-Hall effect. Contrary to the theoretical prediction, we observe the spin-Hall effect in b…
Magnetic skyrmion technology is promising for the next-generation spintronics-based memory and neuromorphic computing due to their small size, non-volatility and low depinning current density. However, the Magnus force originating from the skyrmion Hall effect causes the skyrmion to move along a curved trajectory, which may lead to the annihilation of the skyrmion in a nanotrack during current-induced skyrmion motion. Consequently, circuits utilizing skyrmionic motion need to be designed to limit the impact of the skyrmion Hall effect. In this work, we propose a design of an artificial neuron,…
We propose that the electronic structure of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) can be understood as Dirac fermions coupled with opposite pseudo magnetic fields generated by the moiré pattern. The two low-energy flat bands from each monolayer valley originate from the two zeroth pseudo Landau levels of Dirac fermions under such opposite effective magnetic fields, which have opposite sublattice polarizations and carry opposite Chern numbers $\pm1$, giving rise to helical edge states in the gaps below and above the low-energy bulk bands near the first magic angle. We argue that small Coulomb interact…
We demonstrate that the hybrid structures consisting of a superconducting layer with an adjacent spin-textured ferromagnet demonstrate the variety of equilibrium magnetoelectric effects originating from coupling between the conduction electron spin and superconducting current. By deriving and solving the generalized Usadel equation which takes into account the spin-filtering effect we find that a supercurrent generates spin polarization in the superconducting film which is non-coplanar with the local ferromagnetic moment. The inverse magnetoelectric effect in such structures is shown to result…
The motion of quantum particles homogeneously constrained to a curved surface is affected by a curvature induced geometric potential. Here, we consider the case of inhomogeneous confinement and derive the effective Hamiltonian by extending thin-layer procedure, where an extra effective potential appears. This effective potential is relevant to the ground state energy perpendicular to the surface and the morphology of the confining potential. Tiny changes in the thickness are envisioned to induce considerable magnitude of the effective potential. To demonstrate the impact of the inhomogeneity, …
Very recently, twisted graphene bilayer (TGB) around the first magic angle 1.1° has attracted much attention for the realization of exotic quantum states, such as correlated insulator behavior and unconventional superconductivity. Here we elaborately studied a series of TGBs around the first magic angle engineered by heterostrain, where each layer is strained independently. Our experiment indicated that a moderate heterostrain enables the structural evolution from the small-angle TGB ( ~ 1.5°) to the strained magic-angle TGB (θ ~ 1.1°), exhibiting the characteristic low-energy flat bands. The …
HgTe quantum wells possess remarkable physical properties as for instance the quantum spin Hall state and the 'single-valley' analog of graphene, depending on their layer thicknesses and barrier composition. However, double HgTe quantum wells yet contain more fascinating and still unrevealed features. Here we report on the study of the quantum phase transitions in tunnel-coupled HgTe layers separated by CdTe barrier. We demonstrate that this system has a 3/2 pseudo spin degree of freedom, which features a number of particular properties associated with the spin-dependent coupling between HgTe …
The boundary modes of topological insulators are protected by the symmetries of the non-trivial bulk electronic states. Unless these symmetries are broken, they can give rise to novel phenomena, such as the quantum spin Hall effect in one-dimensional (1D) topological edge states, where quasiparticle backscattering is suppressed by time-reversal symmetry (TRS). Here, we investigate the properties of the 1D topological edge state of bismuth in the absence of TRS, where backscattering is predicted to occur. Using spectroscopic imaging and spin-polarized measurements with a scanning tunneling micr…
In this work, we study the transport through a quantum point contact for bosonic helical liquid that exists at the edge of a bilayer graphene under a strong magnetic field. We identify "smoking gun" transport signatures to distinguish bosonic symmetry protected topological (BSPT) state from fermionic two-channel quantum spin Hall (QSH) state in this system. In particular, a novel charge insulator/spin conductor phase is found for BSPT state, while either charge insulator/spin insulator or charge conductor/spin conductor phase is expected for the two-channel QSH state. Consequently, a simple tr…
We consider theoretically the influence of crystalline fields on the electronic structure of graphene placed on a layered material with reduced symmetry and large spin-orbit coupling (SOC). We use a perturbative procedure combined with the Slater-Koster method to derive the low-energy effective Hamiltonian around the $K$ points and estimate the magnitude of the effective couplings. Two simple models for the envisaged graphene-substrate hybrid bilayer are considered, in which the relevant atomic orbitals hybridize with either top or hollow sites of the graphene honeycomb lattice. In both cases,…
