Revealing Electron–Electron Interactions in Graphene at Room Temperature with a Quantum Twisting Microscope

A quantum twisting microscope (QTM) enables energy- and momentum-resolved measurements of quantum phases through tunneling spectroscopy in twistable van der Waals heterostructures. Here, we improve its resolution and extend its range to higher energies and twist angles by integrating hexagonal boron nitride as a tunneling dielectric. This advance reveals previously inaccessible dispersion features in tunneling between two monolayer graphene sheets, consistent with a logarithmic correction to the linear Dirac spectrum arising from electron-electron interactions, with a fine-structure constant α ≈ 0.32 ± 0.01. Remarkably, these extremely subtle corrections are resolved even at room temperature. Our results highlight the exceptional sensitivity of the QTM, where interferometric interlayer tunneling amplifies small band-structure modifications. They further show that strong electron-electron interactions persist in symmetric, nonordered graphene states and demonstrate the QTM's capability to probe spectral functions and excitations of correlated ground states across twisted and untwisted two-dimensional systems.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nano Letters
Published
2026-03-16
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5c05015
Primary Topic
Graphene research and applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00
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article

Revealing Electron–Electron Interactions in Graphene at Room Temperature with a Quantum Twisting Microscope

Martin Lee, Markus Becherer, Maximilian Daschner, Philipp Altpeter et al.
Nano Letters
Graphene research and applications
article

Revealing Electron–Electron Interactions in Graphene at Room Temperature with a Quantum Twisting Microscope

Martin Lee, Markus Becherer, Maximilian Daschner, Philipp Altpeter, H. Lorenz, J.L.D. Williams, D. K. Efetov, B. A. Bernevig, K. Watanabe, C. Obermayer, J. Li, J. Yu, I. Das, G. Chavez, J. Herzog-Arbeitman, T. Taniguchi, Z. Zhou, B. T. Le, J. Papp, R. Mittermeier, Y. Jiang, M. Bhatt, M. Currle
article en

Abstract

A quantum twisting microscope (QTM) enables energy- and momentum-resolved measurements of quantum phases through tunneling spectroscopy in twistable van der Waals heterostructures. Here, we improve its resolution and extend its range to higher energies and twist angles by integrating hexagonal boron nitride as a tunneling dielectric. This advance reveals previously inaccessible dispersion features in tunneling between two monolayer graphene sheets, consistent with a logarithmic correction to the linear Dirac spectrum arising from electron-electron interactions, with a fine-structure constant α ≈ 0.32 ± 0.01. Remarkably, these extremely subtle corrections are resolved even at room temperature. Our results highlight the exceptional sensitivity of the QTM, where interferometric interlayer tunneling amplifies small band-structure modifications. They further show that strong electron-electron interactions persist in symmetric, nonordered graphene states and demonstrate the QTM's capability to probe spectral functions and excitations of correlated ground states across twisted and untwisted two-dimensional systems.

Nano Letters
Ikerbasque (ES), Princeton University (US), Peking University (CN), University of Florida (US), Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication Technology (AU), Material Sciences (United States) (US), Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (DE), Institut für Technische und Angewandte Physik (Germany) (DE), Donostia International Physics Center (ES), Technical University of Munich (DE), Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (DE)
Affordable and clean energy
Openalex Percentile: Top 20%
Graphene research and applications
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