Strain-induced excitonic instability in twisted bilayer graphene

TL;DR

This paper explores how strain in twisted bilayer graphene can induce excitonic instability, leading to novel insulating states through electron-hole pairing and topological effects.

Contribution

It introduces a mechanism where heterostrain causes excitonic instability and topological order, explaining insulating states at neutrality in homogeneous samples.

Findings

Strain shifts Dirac points in energy and momentum.

Excitonic instability favors electron-hole pairing near neutrality.

Topological vortices carry fermion numbers.

Abstract

The low-energy bands of twisted bilayer graphene form Dirac cones with approximate electron-hole symmetry at small rotation angles. These crossings are protected by the emergent symmetries of moir\'e patterns, conferring a topological character to the bands. Strain accumulated between layers (heterostrain) shifts the Dirac points both in energy and momentum. The overlap of conduction and valence bands favors an excitonic instability of the Fermi surface close to the neutrality point. The spontaneous condensation of electron-hole pairs breaks time reversal symmetry and the separate conservation of charge within each valley sector. The order parameter describes interlayer circulating currents in a Kekul\'e-like orbital magnetization density wave. Vortices in this order parameter carry fermion numbers owing to the underlying topology of the bands. This mechanism may explain the occurrence of insulating states at neutrality in the most homogenous samples, where uniform strain fields contribute both to stabilizing the relative orientation between layers and to the formation of an excitonic gap.