Gate-defined wires in twisted bilayer graphene: From electrical detection of intervalley coherence to internally engineered Majorana modes

Thomson, Alex; Sorensen, Ina M.; Nadj-Perge, Stevan; Alicea, Jason

doi:10.1103/physrevb.105.l081405

Title: Gate-defined wires in twisted bilayer graphene: From electrical detection of intervalley coherence to internally engineered Majorana modes

Journal Article · 08 February 2022 · Physical Review. B

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevb.105.l081405 · OSTI ID:1982781

^[1];

^[2]; Nadj-Perge, Stevan ^[2];

^[2]

California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
California Institute of Technology (CalTech), Pasadena, CA (United States)

Twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) realizes a highly tunable, strongly interacting system featuring superconductivity and various correlated insulating states. We establish gate-defined wires in TBG with proximity-induced spin-orbit coupling as (i) a tool for revealing the nature of correlated insulators and (ii) a platform for Majorana-based topological qubits. We show that the band structure of a gate-defined wire immersed in an intervalley coherent correlated insulator inherits electrically detectable fingerprints of symmetry breaking native to the latter. Surrounding the wire by a superconducting TBG region on one side and an intervalley coherent correlated insulator on the other further enables the formation of Majorana zero modes—possibly even at zero magnetic field depending on the precise symmetry-breaking order present. Our proposal not only introduces a highly gate-tunable topological qubit medium relying on internally generated proximity effects but can also shed light on the Cooper-pairing mechanism in TBG.

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Research Organization:: National Quantum Information Science (QIS) Research Centers (United States). The Quantum Science Center (QSC)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation (NSF); US Army Research Office (ARO); USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-00OR22725

OSTI ID:: 1982781

Journal Information:: Physical Review. B, Journal Name: Physical Review. B Journal Issue: 8 Vol. 105; ISSN 2469-9950

Publisher:: American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Title: Gate-defined wires in twisted bilayer graphene: From electrical detection of intervalley coherence to internally engineered Majorana modes

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