Imaging supermoir\'e relaxation in helical trilayer graphene

TL;DR

This study visualizes supermoiré domain structures in helical trilayer graphene, demonstrating strain-tunable domain size and edge conductance, advancing understanding of electronic states in layered 2D materials.

Contribution

It provides the first real-space imaging of supermoiré domains in helical trilayer graphene and shows how strain can control domain size and edge states.

Findings

Supermoiré domains are visualized with uniform periodicity.

Strain increases supermoiré domain size.

Higher conductance observed at domain boundaries.

Abstract

In twisted van der Waals materials, local atomic relaxation can alter the underlying electronic structure. Characterizing lattice reconstruction and its susceptibility to strain is essential for understanding emergent electronic states, especially in multilayers in which interference between moir\'e lattices yields larger supermoir\'e patterns whose energy is highly sensitive to local stacking. Here we image spatial modulations in the electronic character of helical trilayer graphene, which indicate relaxation into a superstructure of large domains with uniform moir\'e periodicity. We show that the supermoir\'e domain size is increased by strain and can be altered in the same device while preserving the local properties within each domain. Finally, we observe a higher conductance at the domain boundaries, consistent with predictions that they host counter-propagating edge modes. Our work provides a real-space visualization of moir\'e-periodic domains, reveals two independently tunable length scales and demonstrates strain engineering as a route towards designing correlated topological networks at the supermoir\'e scale.