Probing the wavefunctions of correlated states in magic angle graphene

Zhiming Zhang, Rachel Myers, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Brian J. LeRoy

Published 2020-03-20Version 1

Using scanning probe microscopy and spectroscopy, we explore the spatial symmetry of the electronic wavefunctions of twisted bilayer graphene at the "magic angle" of 1.1 degrees. This small twist angle leads to a long wavelength moir\'e unit cell on the order of 13 nm and the appearance of two flat bands. As the twist angle is decreased, correlation effects increase until they are maximized at the magic angle. At this angle, the wavefunctions at the charge neutrality point show only C2 symmetry due to the emergence of a charge ordered state. As the system is doped, the symmetry of the wavefunctions change at each commensurate filling of the moir\'e unit cell pointing to the correlated nature of the spin and valley degeneracy broken states.