Spin polarized nematic order, quantum valley Hall states, and field tunable topological transitions in twisted multilayer graphene systems

TL;DR

This paper explores how twisted multilayer graphene systems exhibit spin polarized nematic order, quantum valley Hall states, and topological transitions driven by external fields, revealing universal mechanisms for their correlated and topological phases.

Contribution

It introduces a theoretical framework showing the emergence of spin polarized nematic and quantum valley Hall states, and field-tunable topological transitions in twisted multilayer graphene.

Findings

Spin polarized, nematic insulator states with zero Chern number at 1/2 filling.

Quantum valley Hall phase due to nontrivial band topology.

Transitions from spin polarized to valley-polarized QAH states under magnetic fields.

Abstract

We theoretically study the correlated insulator states, quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) states, and field-induced topological transitions between different correlated states in twisted multilayer graphene systems. Taking twisted bilayer-monolayer graphene and twisted double-bilayer graphene as examples, we show that both systems stay in spin polarized, $C_{3z}$-broken insulator states with zero Chern number at 1/2 filling of the flat bands under finite displacement fields. In some cases these spin polarized, nematic insulator states are in the quantum valley Hall phase by virtue of the nontrivial band topology of the systems. The spin polarized insulator state is quasi-degenerate with the valley polarized state if only the dominant intra-valley Coulomb interaction is included. Such quasi-degeneracy can be split by atomic on-site interactions such that the spin polarized, nematic state become the unique ground state. Such a scenario applies to various twisted multilayer graphene systems at 1/2 filling, thus can be considered as a universal mechanism. Moreover, under vertical magnetic fields, the orbital Zeeman splittings and the field-induced change of charge density in twisted multilayer graphene systems would compete with the atomic Hubbard interactions, which can drive transitions from spin polarized zero-Chern-number states to valley-polarized QAH states with small onset magnetic fields.