Magnetic Bloch states at integer flux quanta induced by super-moiré potential in graphene aligned with twisted boron nitride

Two-dimensional electron systems in both magnetic fields and periodic potentials are described by the Hofstadter butterfly, a fundamental problem of solid-state physics. While moiré systems provide a powerful method to realize this type of spectrum, previous experiments have been limited to fractional flux quanta regime, due to the difficulty of building ~ 50 nm periodic modulations. Here, we demonstrate a super-moiré strategy to overcome this challenge. By aligning monolayer graphene (G) with 1.0° twisted hexagonal boron nitride (t-hBN), a 63.2 nm bichromatic G/t-hBN super-moiré is constructed, made possible by exploiting the electrostatic nature of t-hBN potential. Under magnetic field <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>B</mml:mi></mml:math> , magnetic Bloch states at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi></mml:mrow> <mml:mrow><mml:mn>0</mml:mn></mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>9</mml:mn></mml:math> are achieved and observed as integer Brown-Zak oscillations, expanding the flux quanta from fractions to integers. Theoretical analysis reproduces these experimental findings. This work opens promising avenues to study unexplored Hofstadter butterfly, explore emergent topological order at integer flux quanta and engineer long-wavelength periodic modulations.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2025-02-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57111-2
Citations
6
Primary Topic
Graphene research and applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
3.11

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article

Magnetic Bloch states at integer flux quanta induced by super-moiré potential in graphene aligned with twisted boron nitride

Wenhui Li, Meizhen Huang, Hang Ji, Chenxuan Lou et al.
6 citations
Nature Communications
Graphene research and applications
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article

Magnetic Bloch states at integer flux quanta induced by super-moiré potential in graphene aligned with twisted boron nitride

Wenhui Li, Meizhen Huang, Hang Ji, Chenxuan Lou, Shichao Yan, Yibo Wang, Zishu Zhou, Xiaodong Cui, Zefei Wu, Zi Yang Meng, Wang Yao, Ning Wang, Xu Zhang, Weikang Zhang, Weixiong Hu, Yong Chen, Kai Feng, Yaqi Ma
article en
6 citations

Abstract

Two-dimensional electron systems in both magnetic fields and periodic potentials are described by the Hofstadter butterfly, a fundamental problem of solid-state physics. While moiré systems provide a powerful method to realize this type of spectrum, previous experiments have been limited to fractional flux quanta regime, due to the difficulty of building ~ 50 nm periodic modulations. Here, we demonstrate a super-moiré strategy to overcome this challenge. By aligning monolayer graphene (G) with 1.0° twisted hexagonal boron nitride (t-hBN), a 63.2 nm bichromatic G/t-hBN super-moiré is constructed, made possible by exploiting the electrostatic nature of t-hBN potential. Under magnetic field <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>B</mml:mi></mml:math> , magnetic Bloch states at <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"><mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi> <mml:mo>/</mml:mo> <mml:msub><mml:mrow><mml:mi>ϕ</mml:mi></mml:mrow> <mml:mrow><mml:mn>0</mml:mn></mml:mrow> </mml:msub> <mml:mo>=</mml:mo> <mml:mn>1</mml:mn> <mml:mo>-</mml:mo> <mml:mn>9</mml:mn></mml:math> are achieved and observed as integer Brown-Zak oscillations, expanding the flux quanta from fractions to integers. Theoretical analysis reproduces these experimental findings. This work opens promising avenues to study unexplored Hofstadter butterfly, explore emergent topological order at integer flux quanta and engineer long-wavelength periodic modulations.

Nature CommunicationsVol. 16(1)
Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HK), ShanghaiTech University (CN), Ghent University (BE), University of Hong Kong (HK)
Morton Cure Paralysis Fund, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, Research Grants Council, University Grants Committee, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Openalex Percentile: Top 9%
Graphene research and applications
3.11
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