Magnetic Field-Stabilized Wigner Crystal States in a Graphene Moiré Superlattice

Chen, Guorui; Zhang, Ya-Hui; Sharpe, Aaron; Zhang, Zuocheng; Wang, Shaoxin; Jiang, Lili; Lyu, Bosai; Li, Hongyuan; Watanabe, Kenji; Taniguchi, Takashi; Shi, Zhiwen; Goldhaber-Gordon, David; Zhang, Yuanbo; Wang, Feng

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c01741

Magnetic Field-Stabilized Wigner Crystal States in a Graphene Moiré Superlattice

Journal Article · Thu Jul 20 04:00:00 EDT 2023 · Nano Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c01741· OSTI ID:1999588

^[1]; Zhang, Ya-Hui ^[2]; ^[3]; Zhang, Zuocheng ^[4]; Wang, Shaoxin ^[4]; Jiang, Lili ^[4]; ^[5]; ^[4]; ^[6]; ^[6]; ^[5]; Goldhaber-Gordon, David ^[7]; Zhang, Yuanbo ^[8]; Wang, Feng ^[9]

Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. (China); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); SLAC
Harvard Univ., Cambridge, MA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
Shanghai Jiao Tong Univ. (China)
National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Tsukuba (Japan)
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Fudan Univ., Shanghai (China)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

ABC-stacked trilayer graphene on boron nitride (ABC-TLG/hBN) moiré superlattices provides a tunable platform for exploring Wigner crystal states in which the electron correlation can be controlled by electric and magnetic fields. Here, in this work, we report the observation of magnetic field-stabilized Wigner crystal states in a ABC-TLG/hBN. We show that correlated insulating states emerge at multiple fractional and integer fillings corresponding to ν = 1/3, 2/3, 1, 4/3, 5/3, and 2 electrons per moiré lattice site under a magnetic field. These correlated insulating states can be attributed to generalized Mott states for the integer fillings and generalized Wigner crystal states for the fractional fillings. The generalized Wigner crystal states are stabilized by a vertical magnetic field and are strongest at one magnetic flux quantum per three moiré superlattices. The ν = 2 insulating state persists up to 30 T, which can be described by a Mott–Hofstadter transition at a high magnetic field.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States); Sandia National Laboratories (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE); USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515; NA0003525

OSTI ID:: 1999588

Journal Information:: Nano Letters, Journal Name: Nano Letters Journal Issue: 15 Vol. 23; ISSN 1530-6984

Publisher:: American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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