Unconventional Flat Chern Bands and 2$e$ Charges in Skyrmionic Moir\'e Superlattices

Autor: Guan, Yifei, Yazyev, Oleg V., Kruchkov, Alexander
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Druh dokumentu: Working Paper
Popis: The interplay of topological characteristics in real space and reciprocal space can lead to the emergence of unconventional topological phases. In this Letter, we implement a novel mechanism for generating higher-Chern flat bands on the basis of twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) coupled to topological magnetic structures in the form of the skyrmion lattice. In particular, we discover a scenario for generating $|C|=2$ dispersionless electronic bands when the skyrmion periodicity and the moir\'e periodicity are matched. Following the Wilczek argument, the statistics of the charge-carrying excitations in this case is \textit{bosonic}, characterized by electronic charge $Q =2e$, that is \textit{even} in units of electron charge $e$. The required skyrmion coupling strength triggering the topological phase transition is realistic, with its threshold estimated as low as 4~meV. The Hofstadter butterfly spectrum of this phase is different resulting in an unexpected quantum Hall conductance sequence $\pm \frac{2 e^2}{h}, \ \pm \frac{4 e^2}{h}, ...$ for TBG with skyrmion order.
Comment: 5+3 pages, 3 figures, 1 table
Databáze: arXiv