Superconductivity in metallic twisted bilayer graphene stabilized by WSe2

• Published in: Nature (London) 2020-07, Vol.583 (7816), p.379-384
• Main Authors: Arora, Harpreet Singh, Polski, Robert, Zhang, Yiran, Thomson, Alex, Choi, Youngjoon, Kim, Hyunjin, Lin, Zhong, Wilson, Ilham Zaky, Xu, Xiaodong, Chu, Jiun-Haw, Watanabe, Kenji, Taniguchi, Takashi, Alicea, Jason, Nadj-Perge, Stevan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 639/766/119/1003; 639/766/119/995; Bilayers; Boron; Boron nitride; Electron density; Ferromagnetism; Graphene; Humanities and Social Sciences; Insulators; Misalignment; multidisciplinary; Phase diagrams; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Selenides; Spectrum allocation; Spin-orbit interactions; Superconductivity; Tungsten; Tungsten compounds
• ISSN: 0028-0836; 1476-4687
• DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2473-8

Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (TBG), with rotational misalignment close to 1.1 degrees, features isolated flat electronic bands that host a rich phase diagram of correlated insulating, superconducting, ferromagnetic and topological phases 1 – 6 . Correlated insulators and superconductivity have been previously observed only for angles within 0.1 degree of the magic angle and occur in adjacent or overlapping electron-density ranges; nevertheless, the origins of these states and the relation between them remain unclear, owing to their sensitivity to microscopic details. Beyond twist angle and strain, the dependence of the TBG phase diagram on the alignment 4 , 6 and thickness of the insulating hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) 7 , 8 used to encapsulate the graphene sheets indicates the importance of the microscopic dielectric environment. Here we show that adding an insulating tungsten diselenide (WSe 2 ) monolayer between the hBN and the TBG stabilizes superconductivity at twist angles much smaller than the magic angle. For the smallest twist angle of 0.79 degrees, superconductivity is still observed despite the TBG exhibiting metallic behaviour across the whole range of electron densities. Finite-magnetic-field measurements further reveal weak antilocalization signatures as well as breaking of fourfold spin–valley symmetry, consistent with spin–orbit coupling induced in the TBG via its proximity to WSe 2 . Our results constrain theoretical explanations for the emergence of superconductivity in TBG and open up avenues towards engineering quantum phases in moiré systems. Placing a single layer of tungsten diselenide in contact with twisted bilayer graphene enables superconductivity even for non-magic twist angles where insulating behavior is absent.