资源环境科技发展态势分析平台

The recently discovered flat electronic bands and strongly correlated and superconducting phases in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG)(1,2) crucially depend on the interlayer twist angle, theta. Although control of the global theta with a precision of about 0.1 degrees has been demonstrated(1-7), little information is available on the distribution of the local twist angles. Here we use a nanoscale on-tip scanning superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID-on-tip)(8) to obtain tomographic images of the Landau levels in the quantum Hall state(9) and to map the local theta variations in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN)-encapsulated MATBG devices with relative precision better than 0.002 degrees and a spatial resolution of a few moire periods. We find a correlation between the degree of theta disorder and the quality of the MATBG transport characteristics and show that even state-of-the-art devices-which exhibit correlated states, Landau fans and superconductivity-display considerable local variation in theta of up to 0.1 degrees, exhibiting substantial gradients and networks of jumps, and may contain areas with no local MATBG behaviour. We observe that the correlated states in MATBG are particularly fragile with respect to the twist-angle disorder. We also show that the gradients of theta generate large gate-tunable in-plane electric fields, unscreened even in the metallic regions, which profoundly alter the quantum Hall state by forming edge channels in the bulk of the sample and may affect the phase diagram of the correlated and superconducting states. We thus establish the importance of theta disorder as an unconventional type of disorder enabling the use of twist-angle gradients for bandstructure engineering, for realization of correlated phenomena and for gate-tunable built-in planar electric fields for device applications.

SQUID-on-tip tomographic imaging of Landau levels in magic-angle graphene provides nanoscale maps of local twist-angle disorder and shows that its properties are fundamentally different from common types of disorder.

Study of WSe2/WS2 moire superlattices reveals the phase diagram of the triangular-lattice Hubbard model, including a Mott insulating state at half-filling and a possible magnetic quantum phase transition near 0.6 filling.

The Hubbard model, formulated by physicist John Hubbard in the 1960s(1), is a simple theoretical model of interacting quantum particles in a lattice. The model is thought to capture the essential physics of high-temperature superconductors, magnetic insulators and other complex quantum many-body ground states(2,3). Although the Hubbard model provides a greatly simplified representation of most real materials, it is nevertheless difficult to solve accurately except in the one-dimensional case(2,3). Therefore, the physical realization of the Hubbard model in two or three dimensions, which can act as an analogue quantum simulator (that is, it can mimic the model and simulate its phase diagram and dynamics(4,5)), has a vital role in solving the strong-correlation puzzle, namely, revealing the physics of a large number of strongly interacting quantum particles. Here we obtain the phase diagram of the two-dimensional triangular-lattice Hubbard model by studying angle-aligned WSe2/WS2 bilayers, which form moire superlattices(6) because of the difference between the lattice constants of the two materials. We probe the charge and magnetic properties of the system by measuring the dependence of its optical response on an out-of-plane magnetic field and on the gate-tuned carrier density. At half-filling of the first hole moire superlattice band, we observe a Mott insulating state with antiferromagnetic Curie-Weiss behaviour, as expected for a Hubbard model in the strong-interaction regime(2,3,7-9). Above half-filling, our experiment suggests a possible quantum phase transition from an antiferromagnetic to a weak ferromagnetic state at filling factors near 0.6. Our results establish a new solid-state platform based on moire superlattices that can be used to simulate problems in strong-correlation physics that are described by triangular-lattice Hubbard models.

Pure spin currents are simultaneously generated and detected electrically through sub-terahertz magnons in the antiferromagnetic insulator Cr2O3, demonstrating the potential of magnon excitations in antiferromagnets for high-frequency spintronic devices.

Spin dynamics in antiferromagnets has much shorter timescales than in ferromagnets, offering attractive properties for potential applications in ultrafast devices(1-3). However, spin-current generation via antiferromagnetic resonance and simultaneous electrical detection by the inverse spin Hall effect in heavy metals have not yet been explicitly demonstrated(4-6). Here we report sub-terahertz spin pumping in heterostructures of a uniaxial antiferromagnetic Cr2O3 crystal and a heavy metal (Pt or Ta in its beta phase). At 0.240 terahertz, the antiferromagnetic resonance in Cr2O3 occurs at about 2.7 tesla, which excites only right-handed magnons. In the spin-canting state, another resonance occurs at 10.5 tesla from the precession of induced magnetic moments. Both resonances generate pure spin currents in the heterostructures, which are detected by the heavy metal as peaks or dips in the open-circuit voltage. The pure-spin-current nature of the electrically detected signals is unambiguously confirmed by the reversal of the voltage polarity observed under two conditions: when switching the detector metal from Pt to Ta, reversing the sign of the spin Hall angle(7-9), and when flipping the magnetic-field direction, reversing the magnon chirality(4,5). The temperature dependence of the electrical signals at both resonances suggests that the spin current contains both coherent and incoherent magnon contributions, which is further confirmed by measurements of the spin Seebeck effect and is well described by a phenomenological theory. These findings reveal the unique characteristics of magnon excitations in antiferromagnets and their distinctive roles in spin-charge conversion in the high-frequency regime.

Solid-state lithium metal batteries require accommodation of electrochemically generated mechanical stress inside the lithium: this stress can be(1,2) up to 1 gigapascal for an overpotential of 135 millivolts. Maintaining the mechanical and electrochemical stability of the solid structure despite physical contact with moving corrosive lithium metal is a demanding requirement. Using in situ transmission electron microscopy, we investigated the deposition and stripping of metallic lithium or sodium held within a large number of parallel hollow tubules made of a mixed ionic-electronic conductor (MIEC). Here we show that these alkali metals-as single crystals-can grow out of and retract inside the tubules via mainly diffusional Coble creep along the MIEC/metal phase boundary. Unlike solid electrolytes, many MIECs are electrochemically stable in contact with lithium (that is, there is a direct tie-line to metallic lithium on the equilibrium phase diagram), so this Coble creep mechanism can effectively relieve stress, maintain electronic and ionic contacts, eliminate solid-electrolyte interphase debris, and allow the reversible deposition/stripping of lithium across a distance of 10 micrometres for 100 cycles. A centimetre-wide full cell-consisting of approximately 10(10) MIEC cylinders/solid electrolyte/LiFePO4-shows a high capacity of about 164 milliampere hours per gram of LiFePO4, and almost no degradation for over 50 cycles, starting with a 1x excess of Li. Modelling shows that the design is insensitive to MIEC material choice with channels about 100 nanometres wide and 10-100 micrometres deep. The behaviour of lithium metal within the MIEC channels suggests that the chemical and mechanical stability issues with the metal-electrolyte interface in solid-state lithium metal batteries can be overcome using this architecture.

By containing lithium metal within oriented tubes of a mixed ionic-electronic conductor, a 3D anode for lithium metal batteries is produced that overcomes chemomechanical stability issues at the electrolyte interface.