Topologically Protected Helical States in Minimally Twisted Bilayer Graphene

Shengqiang Huang, Kyounghwan Kim, Dmitry K. Efimkin, Timothy Lovorn, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Allan H. Macdonald, Emanuel Tutuc, Brian J. Leroy

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

197 Scopus citations

Abstract

In minimally twisted bilayer graphene, a moiré pattern consisting of AB and BA stacking regions separated by domain walls forms. These domain walls are predicted to support counterpropogating topologically protected helical (TPH) edge states when the AB and BA regions are gapped. We fabricate designer moiré crystals with wavelengths longer than 50 nm and demonstrate the emergence of TPH states on the domain wall network by scanning tunneling spectroscopy measurements. We observe a double-line profile of the TPH states on the domain walls, only occurring when the AB and BA regions are gapped. Our results demonstrate a practical and flexible method for TPH state network construction.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number037702
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume121
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 17 2018

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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