High-Chern-number orbital magnetism in twisted rhombohedral graphene

Xirui Wang1, L Antonio Benítez2, Skandaprasad Rao3

  • 1Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA. xrwang@mit.edu.

Nature Materials
|July 3, 2026
PubMed
Abstract

Related Concept Videos

Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Magnetic Moment00:59

Atomic Nuclei: Nuclear Magnetic Moment

All atomic nuclei are positively charged. When they have a nonzero spin, they behave like rotating charges. As a consequence of their charge and spin, these nuclei generate a magnetic field (B). This, in turn, gives rise to a magnetic moment (μ), which is randomly oriented in the absence of an external magnetic field. When an external magnetic field (B0) is applied, the magnetic moment vectors can align with the field or against it in 2 + 1 orientations. A hydrogen nucleus, which is just a...
π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview01:27

π Electron Effects on Chemical Shift: Overview

An applied magnetic field causes loosely bound π-electrons in organic molecules to circulate, producing a local or induced diamagnetic field over a large spatial volume. As the molecules tumble in solution, the field generated by π-electrons in spherical substituents results in a zero net field. However, the net field generated by π-electrons in non-spherical substituents is not zero. The effect of this induced field depends on the orientation of the molecule with respect to B0, resulting in...
Potential Due to a Magnetized Object01:24

Potential Due to a Magnetized Object

Magnetic dipoles in magnetic materials are aligned when placed under an external magnetic field. For paramagnets and ferromagnets, dipole alignment occurs in the direction of the magnetic field. However, the dipoles align opposite to the field in the case of diamagnets. This state of magnetic polarization due to the external field is called magnetization. Magnetization is defined as the dipole moment per unit volume. It plays a similar role to polarization in electrostatics.
The vector...
Magnetic Moment of an Electron01:23

Magnetic Moment of an Electron

Electrons revolving around a nucleus are analogous to a circular current carrying loop. This current produces a magnetic dipole moment proportional to the electron's orbital angular momentum. Since the orbital angular momentum is quantized in terms of the reduced Planck's constant, the dipole moment is quantized in the Bohr Magneton. The value of the Bohr magneton is 9.27 x 10-24 Am2. Electrons also have an intrinsic spin angular momentum, and the associated spin magnetic moment is...
Valence Bond Theory02:42

Valence Bond Theory

Coordination compounds and complexes exhibit different colors, geometries, and magnetic behavior, depending on the metal atom/ion and ligands from which they are composed. In an attempt to explain the bonding and structure of coordination complexes, Linus Pauling proposed the valence bond theory, or VBT, using the concepts of hybridization and the overlapping of the atomic orbitals. According to VBT, the central metal atom or ion (Lewis acid) hybridizes to provide empty orbitals of suitable...
Colors and Magnetism03:02

Colors and Magnetism

Color in Coordination Complexes
When atoms or molecules absorb light at the proper frequency, their electrons are excited to higher-energy orbitals. For many main group atoms and molecules, the absorbed photons are in the ultraviolet range of the electromagnetic spectrum, which cannot be detected by the human eye. For coordination compounds, the energy difference between the d orbitals often allows photons in the visible range to be absorbed and emitted, which is seen as colors by the human eye.