Tunable lattice reconstruction and bandwidth of flat bands in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

TL;DR

This study uses STM to investigate and demonstrate the tunability of lattice reconstruction and flat band bandwidth in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene, revealing new control mechanisms for its electronic properties.

Contribution

It provides experimental evidence of reversible lattice reconstruction in TBG near the magic angle and shows how to tune flat band bandwidth using STM tip pulses.

Findings

Both reconstructed and unreconstructed structures are stable near the magic angle.

STM tip pulses can switch between the two structures.

Flat band bandwidth can be tuned by lattice reconstruction control.

Abstract

The interplay between interlayer van der Waals interaction and intralayer lattice distortion can lead to structural reconstruction in slightly twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) with the twist angle being smaller than a characteristic angle {\theta}c. Experimentally, the {\theta}c is demonstrated to be very close to the magic angle ({\theta} ~ 1.05{\deg}). In this work, we address the transition between reconstructed and unreconstructed structures of the TBG across the magic angle by using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Our experiment demonstrates that both the two structures are stable in the TBG around the magic angle. By applying a STM tip pulse, we show that the two structures can be switched to each other and the bandwidth of the flat bands, which plays a vital role in the emergent strongly correlated states in the magic-angle TBG, can be tuned. The observed tunable lattice reconstruction and bandwidth of the flat bands provide an extra control knob to manipulate the exotic electronic states of the TBG near the magic angle.