Simultaneous nanoscale imaging of local conductivity and chemical potential in a quantum Hall isospin ferromagnet

Quantum Hall isospin ferromagnetism in multilayer graphene offers a versatile playground for exploring flat band correlated physics, driven by the intricate coupling of spin, valley, orbital, and layer degrees of freedom. However, a nanoscale probe capable of simultaneously mapping local conductivity and chemical potential in these exotic phases has yet to be realized. Here, we introduce scanning conductivity and chemical potential microscopy (SCCM), a technique integrating scanning microwave impedance microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy. We demonstrate SCCM by probing the quantum Hall states and many-body Landau level energy spectrum in bilayer graphene. Applied to marginally twisted double bilayer graphene, SCCM then reveals a cascade of quantum Hall isospin ferromagnetic states with unexpected re-emergence behaviors. Significantly, experimental many-body Landau level energy spectrum further uncovers the intricate connections of these complex phenomena to inter-subband Landau level crossings and Landau level single-particle wavefunctions. These insights enable the construction of a comprehensive quantum Hall phase diagram. Our results demonstrate SCCM's capability in decoding complex quantum phenomena, establishing it as a versatile nanoscale probe for electron correlation and topology.

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Publication Details

Journal
Nature Communications
Published
2026-06-25
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-74915-y
Primary Topic
Graphene research and applications
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Simultaneous nanoscale imaging of local conductivity and chemical potential in a quantum Hall isospin ferromagnet

Shiyu Zhu, Shuigang Xu, Shixuan Du, Zhihai Cheng et al.
Nature Communications
Graphene research and applications
article

Simultaneous nanoscale imaging of local conductivity and chemical potential in a quantum Hall isospin ferromagnet

Shiyu Zhu, Shuigang Xu, Shixuan Du, Zhihai Cheng, A. K. Geǐm, Fengcheng Wu, Hu J, Bohao Li, Yunhao Wang, Chengmin Shen
article en

Abstract

Quantum Hall isospin ferromagnetism in multilayer graphene offers a versatile playground for exploring flat band correlated physics, driven by the intricate coupling of spin, valley, orbital, and layer degrees of freedom. However, a nanoscale probe capable of simultaneously mapping local conductivity and chemical potential in these exotic phases has yet to be realized. Here, we introduce scanning conductivity and chemical potential microscopy (SCCM), a technique integrating scanning microwave impedance microscopy and Kelvin probe force microscopy. We demonstrate SCCM by probing the quantum Hall states and many-body Landau level energy spectrum in bilayer graphene. Applied to marginally twisted double bilayer graphene, SCCM then reveals a cascade of quantum Hall isospin ferromagnetic states with unexpected re-emergence behaviors. Significantly, experimental many-body Landau level energy spectrum further uncovers the intricate connections of these complex phenomena to inter-subband Landau level crossings and Landau level single-particle wavefunctions. These insights enable the construction of a comprehensive quantum Hall phase diagram. Our results demonstrate SCCM's capability in decoding complex quantum phenomena, establishing it as a versatile nanoscale probe for electron correlation and topology.

Nature Communications
Wuhan University of Technology (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), University of Manchester (GB), Westlake University (CN), Wuhan University (CN), FZU ‒ Institute of Physics of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (CZ), Institute of Physics (CN), National Laboratory for Superconductivity (CN), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Renmin University of China (CN)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Beijing Nova Program, National Key Research and Development Program of China
Peace, Justice and strong institutions
Openalex Percentile: Top 14%
Graphene research and applications
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