Magic Angle Graphene: the Twist and Shout of Quantum Materials

The isolation 20 years ago of the first truly 2-dimensional, one atom-thick material, graphene, has revolutionized physics and materials science, and led to numerous applications. For example, it allowed the observation of deeply quantum relativistic phenomena directly at room temperature. Moreover, scientists quickly realized that new heterostructures sandwiching various 2D materials could be created, and that these exhibited pretty unique phenomena. In the past few years, physicists have been able to create captivating atomic structures by stacking and controllably twisting layers of graphene and other 2D materials. These are called moiré patterns, named after a 17th-century silk production technique. These atomic moiré structures took the material’s design to a qualitatively new level. The moiré materials appear to exhibit a plethora of novel phenomena, such as unconventional superconductivity and magnetism, ferroelectricity, and much more. In this talk, I will review the discovery and physics of graphene and explain the principles and beauty of moiré materials. I will also provide a broad outlook of some exciting new directions and practical applications of this emerging field.

Speaker: Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, Massachusetts Institute of Technology