High-quality-factor viscoelastic nanomechanical resonators from moiré superlattices
Abstract The moiré superlattice, created by stacking van der Waals layered materials with rotational misalignments, exhibits a multitude of emergent correlated phenomena ranging from superconductivity to Mott insulating states. In addition to exotic electronic states, the intricate networks of incom...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-04-01
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| Series: | Nature Communications |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-58981-2 |
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| Summary: | Abstract The moiré superlattice, created by stacking van der Waals layered materials with rotational misalignments, exhibits a multitude of emergent correlated phenomena ranging from superconductivity to Mott insulating states. In addition to exotic electronic states, the intricate networks of incommensurate lattices may give rise to polymer-like viscoelasticity, which combines the properties of both elastic solids and viscous fluids. This phenomenon may enrich the dynamics of nanomechanical resonators, in which viscoelasticity has not played a role thus far. Here, we report on a controllable hysteretic response of the nanomechanical vibrations in twisted bilayer graphene membranes, which we attribute to viscoelasticity. Accompanying this hysteretic response, we measure unusually large mechanical quality factors Q reaching a remarkably high value of ~1900 at room temperature. We interpret the enhancement of Q as a signature of dissipation dilution, a phenomenon of considerable interest that has recently been harnessed in quantum optomechanical systems. Viscoelasticity features a “lossless” potential that overcomes the corrugation registry and reinforces such a dissipation dilution. Our work introduces the moiré superlattice as a promising system for viscoelasticity engineering through rotating angles and for observing emergent nanoelectromechanical couplings. |
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| ISSN: | 2041-1723 |