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Optimized Fabrication Procedure for High-Quality Graphene-based Moiré Superlattice Devices
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Imaging supermoiré relaxation in helical trilayer graphene
Jesse C Hoke1,2,3, Yifan Li1,2,3, Yuwen Hu1,2,3
1Department of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA.
Nature Materials
|January 6, 2026
Summary
Twisted trilayer graphene exhibits supermoiré domains whose size is strain-tunable. Domain boundaries show higher conductance, suggesting potential for designing novel electronic networks.
Area of Science:
- Condensed Matter Physics
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
Background:
- Twisted van der Waals materials exhibit unique electronic properties due to atomic relaxation and moiré superlattices.
- Understanding lattice reconstruction and strain effects is crucial for emergent electronic states in multilayers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To visualize and characterize the supermoiré domains in helical trilayer graphene.
- To investigate the influence of strain on supermoiré domain size and electronic properties.
- To explore the electronic behavior at domain boundaries.
Main Methods:
- Real-space imaging of spatial modulations in electronic character.
- Application of controlled strain to the material.
- Conductance measurements at domain boundaries.
Main Results:
- Helical trilayer graphene relaxes into a superstructure of large, uniform moiré periodicity domains.
- Supermoiré domain size increases with applied strain and can be tuned in situ.
- Higher conductance observed at domain boundaries, consistent with predicted edge modes.
Conclusions:
- Strain engineering offers a method to control supermoiré domain size and electronic properties in twisted van der Waals materials.
- Domain boundaries may host exotic electronic states like counterpropagating edge modes.
- This work enables the design of correlated topological networks at the supermoiré scale.
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