Electric-Field Switchable Chirality in Rhombohedral Graphene Chern Insulators Stabilized by Tungsten Diselenide
Chern insulators host topologically protected chiral edge currents with quantized conductance characterized by their Chern number. Switching the chirality of a Chern insulator, namely, the direction of the edge current, is highly challenging due to topologically forbidden backscattering but is of co...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Physical Society
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Physical Review X |
| Online Access: | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011052 |
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| author | Jing Ding Hanxiao Xiang Jiannan Hua Wenqiang Zhou Naitian Liu Le Zhang Na Xin Bing Wu Kenji Watanabe Takashi Taniguchi Zdeněk Sofer Wei Zhu Shuigang Xu |
| author_facet | Jing Ding Hanxiao Xiang Jiannan Hua Wenqiang Zhou Naitian Liu Le Zhang Na Xin Bing Wu Kenji Watanabe Takashi Taniguchi Zdeněk Sofer Wei Zhu Shuigang Xu |
| author_sort | Jing Ding |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Chern insulators host topologically protected chiral edge currents with quantized conductance characterized by their Chern number. Switching the chirality of a Chern insulator, namely, the direction of the edge current, is highly challenging due to topologically forbidden backscattering but is of considerable importance for the design of topological devices. Nevertheless, this can be achieved by reversing the sign of the Chern number. Here, we report electrically switchable chirality in rhombohedral multilayer graphene-based Chern insulators through a topological phase transition. By introducing moiré superlattices in rhombohedral heptalayer graphene, we observe a cascade of topological phase transitions at quarter electron filling of a moiré band with the Chern number tunable from −1, 1, to 2. Furthermore, integrating monolayer tungsten diselenide at the moiréless interface of rhombohedral decalayer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride superlattices stabilizes the Chern insulators, enabling quantized anomalous Hall resistance of h/2e^{2}. Remarkably, the Chern number can be electrically switched using displacement fields, leading to a topological phase transition from −1 to 2. Our work establishes rhombohedral multilayer graphene moiré superlattices as a versatile platform for topological engineering, with switchable chirality offering significant promise for integrating chiral edge currents into topological electronic circuits. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-3a70092203984df48ef2c2e162ebf48a |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2160-3308 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | American Physical Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Physical Review X |
| spelling | doaj-art-3a70092203984df48ef2c2e162ebf48a2025-08-20T01:57:35ZengAmerican Physical SocietyPhysical Review X2160-33082025-03-0115101105210.1103/PhysRevX.15.011052Electric-Field Switchable Chirality in Rhombohedral Graphene Chern Insulators Stabilized by Tungsten DiselenideJing DingHanxiao XiangJiannan HuaWenqiang ZhouNaitian LiuLe ZhangNa XinBing WuKenji WatanabeTakashi TaniguchiZdeněk SoferWei ZhuShuigang XuChern insulators host topologically protected chiral edge currents with quantized conductance characterized by their Chern number. Switching the chirality of a Chern insulator, namely, the direction of the edge current, is highly challenging due to topologically forbidden backscattering but is of considerable importance for the design of topological devices. Nevertheless, this can be achieved by reversing the sign of the Chern number. Here, we report electrically switchable chirality in rhombohedral multilayer graphene-based Chern insulators through a topological phase transition. By introducing moiré superlattices in rhombohedral heptalayer graphene, we observe a cascade of topological phase transitions at quarter electron filling of a moiré band with the Chern number tunable from −1, 1, to 2. Furthermore, integrating monolayer tungsten diselenide at the moiréless interface of rhombohedral decalayer graphene and hexagonal boron nitride superlattices stabilizes the Chern insulators, enabling quantized anomalous Hall resistance of h/2e^{2}. Remarkably, the Chern number can be electrically switched using displacement fields, leading to a topological phase transition from −1 to 2. Our work establishes rhombohedral multilayer graphene moiré superlattices as a versatile platform for topological engineering, with switchable chirality offering significant promise for integrating chiral edge currents into topological electronic circuits.http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011052 |
| spellingShingle | Jing Ding Hanxiao Xiang Jiannan Hua Wenqiang Zhou Naitian Liu Le Zhang Na Xin Bing Wu Kenji Watanabe Takashi Taniguchi Zdeněk Sofer Wei Zhu Shuigang Xu Electric-Field Switchable Chirality in Rhombohedral Graphene Chern Insulators Stabilized by Tungsten Diselenide Physical Review X |
| title | Electric-Field Switchable Chirality in Rhombohedral Graphene Chern Insulators Stabilized by Tungsten Diselenide |
| title_full | Electric-Field Switchable Chirality in Rhombohedral Graphene Chern Insulators Stabilized by Tungsten Diselenide |
| title_fullStr | Electric-Field Switchable Chirality in Rhombohedral Graphene Chern Insulators Stabilized by Tungsten Diselenide |
| title_full_unstemmed | Electric-Field Switchable Chirality in Rhombohedral Graphene Chern Insulators Stabilized by Tungsten Diselenide |
| title_short | Electric-Field Switchable Chirality in Rhombohedral Graphene Chern Insulators Stabilized by Tungsten Diselenide |
| title_sort | electric field switchable chirality in rhombohedral graphene chern insulators stabilized by tungsten diselenide |
| url | http://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.15.011052 |
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