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Title: Twisted Bilayer Graphene: A Phonon-Driven Superconductor

Abstract

We study the electron-phonon coupling in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG), which was recently experimentally observed to exhibit superconductivity around the magic twist angle θ ≈ 1.05°. We show that phonon-mediated electron attraction at the magic angle is strong enough to induce a conventional intervalley pairing between graphene valleys K and K' with a superconducting critical temperature Tc ~ 1 K, in agreement with the experiment. We predict that superconductivity can also be observed in TBG at many other angles θ and higher electron densities in higher moiré bands, which may also explain the possible granular superconductivity of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. We support our conclusions by ab initio calculations.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
  2. Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing (China)
  3. Princeton Univ., NJ (United States); Freie Univ. Berlin (Germany); Max Planck Inst. of Microstructure Physics, Halle (Germany)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Princeton Univ., NJ (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC)
OSTI Identifier:
1612433
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1546267
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0016239
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Physical Review Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 122; Journal Issue: 25; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; Physics; Electron-phonon coupling; Superconducting phase transition; Graphene; Low-temperature superconductors; Multilayer thin films; Two-dimensional electron system

Citation Formats

Lian, Biao, Wang, Zhijun, and Bernevig, B. Andrei. Twisted Bilayer Graphene: A Phonon-Driven Superconductor. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1103/physrevlett.122.257002.
Lian, Biao, Wang, Zhijun, & Bernevig, B. Andrei. Twisted Bilayer Graphene: A Phonon-Driven Superconductor. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.257002
Lian, Biao, Wang, Zhijun, and Bernevig, B. Andrei. Fri . "Twisted Bilayer Graphene: A Phonon-Driven Superconductor". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.122.257002. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1612433.
@article{osti_1612433,
title = {Twisted Bilayer Graphene: A Phonon-Driven Superconductor},
author = {Lian, Biao and Wang, Zhijun and Bernevig, B. Andrei},
abstractNote = {We study the electron-phonon coupling in twisted bilayer graphene (TBG), which was recently experimentally observed to exhibit superconductivity around the magic twist angle θ ≈ 1.05°. We show that phonon-mediated electron attraction at the magic angle is strong enough to induce a conventional intervalley pairing between graphene valleys K and K' with a superconducting critical temperature Tc ~ 1 K, in agreement with the experiment. We predict that superconductivity can also be observed in TBG at many other angles θ and higher electron densities in higher moiré bands, which may also explain the possible granular superconductivity of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite. We support our conclusions by ab initio calculations.},
doi = {10.1103/physrevlett.122.257002},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 25,
volume = 122,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Fri Jun 28 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}

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