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dc.contributor.authorZheng, Zhiren
dc.contributor.authorMa, Qiong
dc.contributor.authorBi, Zhen
dc.contributor.authorde la Barrera, Sergio
dc.contributor.authorLiu, Ming-Hao
dc.contributor.authorMao, Nannan
dc.contributor.authorZhang, Yang
dc.contributor.authorKiper, Natasha
dc.contributor.authorWatanabe, Kenji
dc.contributor.authorTaniguchi, Takashi
dc.contributor.authorKong, Jing
dc.contributor.authorTisdale, William A.
dc.contributor.authorAshoori, Raymond
dc.contributor.authorGedik, Nuh
dc.contributor.authorFu, Liang
dc.contributor.authorXu, Suyang
dc.contributor.authorJarillo-Herrero, Pablo
dc.date.accessioned2021-01-29T21:31:42Z
dc.date.available2021-01-29T21:31:42Z
dc.date.issued2020-11
dc.date.submitted2020-05
dc.identifier.issn0028-0836
dc.identifier.issn1476-4687
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/129601
dc.description.abstractThe constituent particles of matter can arrange themselves in various ways, giving rise to emergent phenomena that can be surprisingly rich and often cannot be understood by studying only the individual constituents. Discovering and understanding the emergence of such phenomena in quantum materials—especially those in which multiple degrees of freedom or energy scales are delicately balanced—is of fundamental interest to condensed-matter research. Here we report on the surprising observation of emergent ferroelectricity in graphene-based moiré heterostructures. Ferroelectric materials show electrically switchable electric dipoles, which are usually formed by spatial separation between the average centres of positive and negative charge within the unit cell. On this basis, it is difficult to imagine graphene—a material composed of only carbon atoms—exhibiting ferroelectricity3. However, in this work we realize switchable ferroelectricity in Bernal-stacked bilayer graphene sandwiched between two hexagonal boron nitride layers. By introducing a moiré superlattice potential (via aligning bilayer graphene with the top and/or bottom boron nitride crystals), we observe prominent and robust hysteretic behaviour of the graphene resistance with an externally applied out-of-plane displacement field. Our systematic transport measurements reveal a rich and striking response as a function of displacement field and electron filling, and beyond the framework of conventional ferroelectrics. We further directly probe the ferroelectric polarization through a non-local monolayer graphene sensor. Our results suggest an unconventional, odd-parity electronic ordering in the bilayer graphene/boron nitride moiré system. This emergent moiré ferroelectricity may enable ultrafast, programmable and atomically thin carbon-based memory devices.en_US
dc.description.sponsorshipDepartment of Energy (Award DE-SC0020042)en_US
dc.publisherSpringer Science and Business Media LLCen_US
dc.relation.isversionofhttp://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2970-9en_US
dc.rightsArticle is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.en_US
dc.sourceProf. Gediken_US
dc.titleUnconventional ferroelectricity in moiré heterostructuresen_US
dc.typeArticleen_US
dc.identifier.citationZheng, Zhiren et al. "Unconventional ferroelectricity in moiré heterostructures." Nature 588, 7836 (November 2020): 71–76 © 2020 The Author(s)en_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physicsen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Scienceen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineeringen_US
dc.contributor.departmentMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Materials Research Laboratoryen_US
dc.relation.journalNatureen_US
dc.eprint.versionAuthor's final manuscripten_US
dc.type.urihttp://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticleen_US
eprint.statushttp://purl.org/eprint/status/PeerRevieweden_US
dspace.date.submission2021-01-14T01:45:29Z
mit.journal.volume588en_US
mit.journal.issue7836en_US
mit.licensePUBLISHER_POLICY
mit.metadata.statusComplete


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