Emergent ferromagnetism near three-quarters filling in twisted bilayer graphene

Aaron L. Sharpe, Eli J. Fox, Arthur W. Barnard, Joe Finney, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, M. A. Kastner, David Goldhaber-Gordon

Published 2019-01-11Version 1

When two sheets of graphene are stacked at a small twist angle, the resulting flat superlattice minibands are expected to strongly enhance electron-electron interactions. Here we present evidence that near three-quarters ($3/4$) filling of the conduction miniband these enhanced interactions drive the twisted bilayer graphene into a ferromagnetic state. We observe emergent ferromagnetic hysteresis, with a giant anomalous Hall (AH) effect as large as $10.4\ \mathrm{k\Omega}$ and signs of chiral edge states in a narrow density range around an apparent insulating state at $3/4$. Surprisingly, the magnetization of the sample can be reversed by applying a small DC current. Although the AH resistance is not quantized and dissipation is significant, we suggest that the system is an incipient Chern insulator.