arXiv subjects

Kenji Watanabe

Publications and source records attributed to Kenji Watanabe.

At least 757 records · Page 42Linked to original sources

arXiv2024

Strongly correlated Hofstadter subbands in minimally twisted bilayer graphene

Moiré superlattice in twisted bilayer graphene has been proven to be a versatile platform for exploring exotic quantum phases. Extensive investigations have been invoked focusing on the zero-magnetic-field phase diagram at the magic twist angle around $θ=1.1\degree$, which has been indicated to be an exclusive regime for exhibiting flat band with the interplay of strong electronic correlation and untrivial topology in the experiment so far. In contrast, electronic bands in non-magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene host dominant electronic kinetic energy compared to Coulomb interaction. By quenching the kinetic energy and enhancing Coulomb exchange interactions by means of an applied perpendicular magnetic field, here we unveil gapped flat Hofstadter subbands at large magnetic flux that yield correlated insulating states in minimally twisted bilayer graphene at $θ=0.41\degree$. These states appear with isospin symmetry breaking due to strong Coulomb interactions. Our work provides a platform for studying the phase transition of the strongly correlated Hofstadter spectrum.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Interplay of valley, layer and band topology towards interacting quantum phases in moiré bilayer graphene

In Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene (BBG), the Landau levels give rise to an intimate connection between valley and layer degrees of freedom. Adding a moiré superlattice potential enriches the BBG physics with the formation of topological minibands - potentially leading to tunable exotic quantum transport. Here, we present magnetotransport measurements of a high-quality bilayer graphene-hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) heterostructure. The zero-degree alignment generates a strong moiré superlattice potential for the electrons in BBG and the resulting Landau fan diagram of longitudinal and Hall resistance displays a Hofstadter butterfly pattern with a high level of detail. We demonstrate that the intricate relationship between valley and layer degrees of freedom controls the topology of moiré-induced bands, significantly influencing the energetics of interacting quantum phases in the BBG superlattice. We further observe signatures of field-induced correlated insulators, helical edge states and clear quantizations of interaction-driven topological quantum phases, such as symmetry broken Chern insulators.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Femtosecond switching of strong light-matter interactions in microcavities with two-dimensional semiconductors

Ultrafast all-optical logic devices based on nonlinear light-matter interactions hold the promise to overcome the speed limitations of conventional electronic devices. Strong coupling of excitons and photons inside an optical resonator enhances such interactions and generates new polariton states which give access to unique nonlinear phenomena, such as Bose-Einstein condensation, used for all-optical ultrafast polariton transistors. However, the pulse energies required to pump such devices range from tens to hundreds of pJ, making them not competitive with electronic transistors. Here we introduce a new paradigm for all-optical switching based on the ultrafast transition from the strong to the weak coupling regime in microcavities embedding atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides. Employing single and double stacks of hBN-encapsulated MoS$_2$ homobilayers with high optical nonlinearities and fast exciton relaxation times, we observe a collapse of the 55-meV polariton gap and its revival in less than one picosecond, lowering the threshold for optical switching below 4 pJ per pulse, while retaining ultrahigh switching frequencies. As an additional degree of freedom, the switching can be triggered pumping either the intra- or the interlayer excitons of the bilayers at different wavelengths, speeding up the polariton dynamics, owing to unique interspecies excitonic interactions. Our approach will enable the development of compact ultrafast all-optical logical circuits and neural networks, showcasing a new platform for polaritonic information processing based on manipulating the light-matter coupling.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

Observation of current whirlpools in graphene at room temperature

Electron-electron interactions in high-mobility conductors can give rise to transport signatures resembling those described by classical hydrodynamics. Using a nanoscale scanning magnetometer, we imaged a distinctive hydrodynamic transport pattern - stationary current vortices - in a monolayer graphene device at room temperature. By measuring devices with increasing characteristic size, we observed the disappearance of the current vortex and thus verify a prediction of the hydrodynamic model. We further observed that vortex flow is present for both hole- and electron-dominated transport regimes, while disappearing in the ambipolar regime. We attribute this effect to a reduction of the vorticity diffusion length near charge neutrality. Our work showcases the power of local imaging techniques for unveiling exotic mesoscopic transport phenomena.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Confined Trions and Mott-Wigner States in a Purely Electrostatic Moiré Potential

Moiré heterostructures consisting of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) hetero- and homobilayers have emerged as a promising material platform to study correlated electronic states. Optical signatures of strong correlations in the form of Mott-Wigner states and fractional Chern insulators have already been observed in TMD monolayers and their twisted bilayers. In this work, we use a moiré substrate containing a twisted hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) interface to externally generate a superlattice potential for the TMD layer: the periodic structure of ferroelectric domains in h-BN effects a purely electrostatic potential for charge carriers. We find direct evidence for the induced moiré potential in the emergence of new excitonic resonances at integer fillings, and our observation of an enhancement of the trion binding energy by $\simeq$ 3 meV. A theoretical model for exciton-electron interactions allows us to directly determine the moiré potential modulation of 30$\pm$5 meV from the measured trion binding energy shift. We obtain direct evidence for charge order linked to electronic Mott-Wigner states at filling factors $ν$ = 1/3 and $ν$ = 2/3 through the associated exciton Umklapp resonances.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Giant anisotropic magnetoresistance in few-layer α-RuCl3 tunnel junctions

The spin-orbit assisted Mott insulator $α$-RuCl3 is proximate to the coveted quantum spin liquid (QSL) predicted by the Kitaev model. In the search for the pure Kitaev QSL, reducing the dimensionality of this frustrated magnet by exfoliation has been proposed as a way to enhance magnetic fluctuations and Kitaev interactions. Here, we perform angle-dependent tunneling magnetoresistance (TMR) measurements on ultrathin $α$-RuCl3 crystals with various layer numbers to probe their magnetic, electronic and crystal structure. We observe a giant change in resistance - as large as ~2500% - when the magnetic field rotates either within or out of the $α$-RuCl3 plane, a manifestation of the strongly anisotropic spin interactions in this material. In combination with scanning transmission electron microscopy, this tunneling anisotropic magnetoresistance (TAMR) reveals that few-layer $α$-RuCl3 crystals remain in the high-temperature monoclinic phase at low temperature. It also shows the presence of a zigzag antiferromagnetic order below the critical temperature TN ~ 14 K, which is twice the one typically observed in bulk samples with rhombohedral stacking. Our work offers valuable insights into the relation between the stacking order and magnetic properties of this material, which helps lay the groundwork for creating and electrically probing exotic magnetic phases like QSLs via van der Waals engineering.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Correlated states controlled by tunable van Hove singularity in moiré WSe2

Twisted bilayers of transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors have enabled the discovery of superconductivity, ferromagnetism, correlated insulators and a series of new topological phases of matter. However, the connection between these electronic phases and the underlying band structure singularities in these materials has remained largely unexplored. Here, combining the magnetic circular dichroism and electronic compressibility measurements, we investigate the influence of a van Hove singularity on the correlated phases in bilayer WSe2 with twist angle between 2-3 degrees. We demonstrate stabilizing the Stoner ferromagnetism below moiré lattice filling one and Chern insulators at filling one by tuning the van Hove singularity cross the Fermi level using the electric and magnetic fields. The experimental observations are supported by the continuum model band structure calculations. Our results highlight the prospect of engineering the electronic phases by tunable van Hove singularities.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2024

Interlayer Raman modes in twisted bilayer TMDCs

Twisted bilayer two-dimensional transition-metal dichalgocenides (TMDCs) exhibit a range of novel phenomena such as the formation of moiré excitons and strongly correlated phases. The coupling between the layers is crucial for the resulting physical properties and depends not just on the twist angle but also on the details of the fabrication process. Here, we present an approach for the analysis of this interlayer coupling via Raman spectroscopy. By exciting the C-exciton resonance of the TMDCs, optical (high-frequency) interlayer Raman modes are activated that are too weak in intensity at excitation energies far below the C exciton. This is due to the wave function of the C exciton, which expands - in contrast to A and B excitons - over both layers and, therefore, couples the layers electronically. We present optical interlayer Raman modes in twisted 2L TMDCs and show that they can be used as a measure of the interlayer coupling between the individual layers.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2024

Spectrally resolved far-field emission pattern of single photon emitters in MoS2

We explore the optical dipole orientation of single photon emitters in monolayer MoS2 as produced by a focused helium ion beam. The single photon emitters can be understood as single sulfur vacancies. The corresponding far-field luminescence spectra reveal several photoluminescence lines below the dominating luminescence of the exciton in MoS2. These sub-bandgap emission lines were predicted by ab initio theory, but they have never been resolved in luminescence experiments because of their small amplitude. We reveal the lines by their dependence as a function of the photon energy and momentum as measured in the back focal plane of the optical circuitry. The agreement between theory and experiment suggests that the defect states interact strongly within the Brillouin zone.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Selective and Quasi-continuous Switching of Ferroelectric Chern Insulator Device for Neuromorphic Computing

Topologically protected edge state transport in quantum materials is dissipationless and features quantized Hall conductance, and shows great potential in highly fault-tolerant computing technologies. However, it remains elusive about how to develop topological edge state-based computing devices. Recently, exploration and understanding of interfacial ferroelectricity in various van der Waals heterostructure material systems have received widespread attention among the community of materials science and condensed matter physics3-11. Such ferroelectric polarization emergent at the vdW interface can coexist with other quantum states and thus provides an unprecedented opportunity to electrically switch the topological edge states of interest, which is of crucial significance to the fault-tolerant electronic device applications based on the topological edge states. Here, we report the selective and quasi-continuous ferroelectric switching of topological Chern insulator devices and demonstrate its promising application in noise-immune neuromorphic computing. We fabricate this ferroelectric Chern insulator device by encapsulating magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene with doubly-aligned h-BN layers, and observe the coexistence of the interfacial ferroelectricity and the topological Chern insulating states. This ferroelectricity exhibits an anisotropic dependence on the in-plane magnetic field. By using a VBG pulse with delicately controlled amplitude, we realize the nonvolatile switching between any pair of Chern insulating states and achieve 1280 distinguishable nonvolatile resistance levels on a single device. Furthermore, we demonstrate deterministic switching between two arbitrary levels among the record-high number of nonvolatile resistance levels.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Terahertz and gigahertz magneto-ratchets in graphene-based 2D metamaterials

We report on the observation and study of the magneto-ratchet effect in a graphene-based two-dimensional metamaterial formed by a graphite gate that is placed below a graphene monolayer and patterned with an array of triangular antidots. We demonstrate that terahertz/gigahertz excitation of the metamaterial leads to sign-alternating magneto-oscillations with an amplitude that exceeds the ratchet current at zero magnetic field by orders of magnitude. The oscillations are shown to be related to the Shubnikov-de Haas effect. In addition to the giant ratchet current oscillations we detect resonant ratchet currents caused by the cyclotron and electron spin resonances. The results are well described by the developed theory considering the magneto-ratchet effect caused by the interplay of the near-field radiation and the nonuniform periodic electrostatic potential of the metamaterial controlled by the gate voltages.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Infrared magneto-polaritons in MoTe$_2$ mono- and bilayers

MoTe$_2$ monolayers and bilayers are unique within the family of van-der-Waals materials since they pave the way towards atomically thin infrared light-matter quantum interfaces, potentially reaching the important telecommunication windows. Here, we report emergent exciton-polaritons based on MoTe$_2$ monolayer and bilayer in a low-temperature open micro-cavity in a joint experiment-theory study. Our experiments clearly evidence both the enhanced oscillator strength and enhanced luminescence of MoTe$_2$ bilayers, signified by a 38 \% increase of the Rabi-splitting and a strongly enhanced relaxation of polaritons to low-energy states. The latter is distinct from polaritons in MoTe$_2$ monolayers, which feature a bottleneck-like relaxation inhibition. Both the polaritonic spin-valley locking in monolayers and the spin-layer locking in bilayers are revealed via the Zeeman effect, which we map and control via the light-matter composition of our polaritonic resonances.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Giant gate-controlled room temperature odd-parity magnetoresistance in magnetized bilayer graphene

Magnetotransport measurements are crucial for understanding the Fermi surface properties, magnetism, and topology in quantum materials. Here, we report the discovery of giant room temperature odd-parity magnetoresistance (OMR) in a bilayer graphene (BLG) heterostructure interfaced with Cr$_2$Te$_2$Ge$_6$ (CGT). Using magnetotransport measurements, we demonstrate that the BLG/CGT heterostructure exhibits a significant antisymmetric longitudinal magnetoresistance, indicative of intrinsic time-reversal symmetry (TRS) breaking in the system. We show that the OMR is tunable via electrostatic gating. Additionally, the OMR is pronounced near the band edges and diminishes with increasing charge carrier density in graphene. Our theoretical analysis reveals that this phenomenon arises from the coupling of the out-of-plane components of Berry curvature and orbital magnetic moment to the applied magnetic field in a TRS-broken system. Our findings establish OMR as a significant probe for TRS breaking in quantum materials in which the crystal symmetries preclude the appearance of anomalous Hall effect.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Optical control of multiple resistance levels in graphene for memristic applications

Neuromorphic computing has emphasized the need for memristors with non-volatile, multiple conductance levels. This paper demonstrates the potential of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)/graphene heterostructures to act as memristors with multiple resistance states that can be optically tuned using visible light. The number of resistance levels in graphene can be controlled by modulating doping levels, achieved by varying the electric field strength or adjusting the duration of optical illumination. Our measurements show that this photodoping of graphene results from the optical excitation of charge carriers from the nitrogen-vacancy levels of hBN to its conduction band, with these carriers then being transferred to graphene by the gate-induced electric field. We develop a quantitative model to describe our observations. Additionally, utilizing our device architecture, we propose a memristive crossbar array for vector-matrix multiplications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Observation of Ferromagnetic Phase in the Second Moiré Band of Twisted MoTe2

Flat bands and electron correlation in moiré lattices give rise to many exotic phases, including Mott insulators, superconductivity, and topological states. Within the first moiré band, integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall effects have been observed in twisted bilayer MoTe2 (tMoTe2) at one hole doping and fractional doping per moiré unit cell, respectively. When the second moiré band is fully hole doped, quantum spin Hall insulator has also been reported in tMoTe2 at a certain twist angle. Exotic topological states together with ferromagnetic (FM) states in the high moiré band can potentially exist as well. In this study, we report the observation of a FM phase in the second moiré band in tMoTe2. The FM phase can be tuned by both the doping level and displacement field. At filling around 2.58 holes per moiré unit cell, the FM phase reaches a Curie temperature of 3.5 K. A large displacement field can suppress the FM phase, like the FM phase at the filling of -1. Our results demonstrate the realization of time-reversal symmetry-breaking states in the higher moiré bands in tMoTe2.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Measuring Phonon Dispersion and Electron-Phason Coupling in Twisted Bilayer Graphene with a Cryogenic Quantum Twisting Microscope

The coupling between electrons and phonons is one of the fundamental interactions in solids, underpinning a wide range of phenomena such as resistivity, heat conductivity, and superconductivity. However, direct measurements of this coupling for individual phonon modes remains a significant challenge. In this work, we introduce a novel technique for mapping phonon dispersions and electron phonon coupling (EPC) in van der Waals materials. By generalizing the quantum twisting microscope to cryogenic temperatures, we demonstrate its capability to map not only electronic dispersions via elastic momentum-conserving tunnelling, but also phononic dispersions through inelastic momentum-conserving tunnelling. Crucially, the inelastic tunnelling strength provides a direct and quantitative measure of the momentum and mode resolved EPC. We use this technique to measure the phonon spectrum and EPC of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG). Surprisingly, we find that unlike standard acoustic phonons, whose coupling to electrons diminishes as their momentum goes to zero, TBG exhibits a low energy mode whose coupling increases with decreasing twist angle. We show that this unusual coupling arises from the modulation of the inter-layer tunnelling by a layer-antisymmetric 'phason' mode of the moiré system. The technique demonstrated here opens the way for probing a large variety of other neutral collective modes that couple to electronic tunnelling, including plasmons, magnons and spinons in quantum materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Dynamical Control of Excitons in Atomically Thin Semiconductors

Excitons in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have emerged as a promising platform for novel applications ranging from optoelectronic devices to quantum optics and solid state quantum simulators. While much progress has been made towards characterizing and controlling excitons in TMDs, manipulating their properties during the course of their lifetime - a key requirement for many optoelectronic device and information processing modalities - remains an outstanding challenge. Here we combine long-lived interlayer excitons in angle-aligned MoSe$_2$/WSe$_2$ heterostructures with fast electrical control to realize dynamical control schemes, in which exciton properties are not predetermined at the time of excitation but can be dynamically manipulated during their lifetime. Leveraging the out-of-plane exciton dipole moment, we use electric fields to demonstrate dynamical control over the exciton emission wavelength. Moreover, employing a patterned gate geometry, we demonstrate rapid local sample doping and toggling of the radiative decay rate through exciton-charge interactions during the exciton lifetime. Spatially mapping the exciton response reveals charge redistribution, offering a novel probe of electronic transport in twisted TMD heterostructures. Our results establish the feasibility of dynamical exciton control schemes, unlocking new directions for exciton-based information processing and optoelectronic devices, and the realization of excitonic phenomena in TMDs.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2024

Cryogenic nano-imaging of second-order moiré superlattices

Second-order superlattices form when moiré superlattices of similar periodicities interfere with each other, leading to even larger superlattice periodicities. These crystalline structures have been engineered utilizing two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) under specific alignment conditions. Such specific alignment has shown to play a crucial role in facilitating correlation-driven topological phases featuring the quantized anomalous Hall effect. While signatures of second-order superlattices have been identified in magnetotransport experiments, any real-space visualization is lacking to date. In this work, we present \NT{electronic transport measurements and cryogenic nanoscale photovoltage (PV) measurements} that reveal a second-order superlattice in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene closely aligned to hBN. This is evidenced by long-range periodic photovoltage modulations across the entire sample backed by the corresponding electronic transport features. Supported by theoretical calculations, our experimental data show that even minuscule strain and twist-angle variations on the order of 0.01$^\circ$ can lead to a drastic change of the second-order superlattice structure between local one-dimensional, square or triangular types. Our real-space observations therefore serve as a strong `magnifying glass' for strain and twist angle and can shed new light on the mechanisms responsible for the breaking of spatial symmetries in twisted bilayer graphene, and pave an avenue to engineer long-range superlattice structures in 2D materials using strain fields.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗