Strongly interacting Hofstadter states in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

Minhao He, Xiaoyu Wang, Jiaqi Cai, Jonah Herzog-Arbeitman, Ran Peng, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Ady Stern, B. Andrei Bernevig, Matthew Yankowitz, Oskar Vafek, Xiaodong Xu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene hosts a variety of strongly correlated states at partial fillings of its flat bands. In a magnetic field, these flat bands evolve into a Hofstadter spectrum renormalized by strong Coulomb interactions. Here we study the interacting Hofstadter states that spontaneously form within the topological magnetic sub-bands of an ultraclean magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene device, including symmetry-broken Chern insulator states and fractional quantum Hall states. The observed symmetry-broken Chern insulator states form a cascade, with their Chern numbers mimicking the main sequence of correlated Chern insulators. The fractional quantum Hall states form in a Jain sequence. However, they disappear at high magnetic field, in contrast to conventional fractional quantum Hall states that strengthen with increasing magnetic field. We reveal a magnetic-field-driven phase transition from composite fermion phases to a dissipative Fermi liquid. Our theoretical analysis of the magnetic sub-bands hosting the fractional quantum Hall states predicts non-uniform quantum geometric properties far from the lowest Landau level. This points towards a more natural interpretation of these states as in-field fractional Chern insulators of the magnetic sub-bands.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1380-1386
Number of pages7
JournalNature Physics
Volume21
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2025

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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