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Study: Superconductivity switches on and off in “magic-angle” graphene

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office

A quick electric pulse completely flips the material’s electronic properties, opening a route to ultrafast, brain-inspired, superconducting electronics.

A unique device is made of sandwiched layers, with yellow and purple on top and blue on bottom. The middle layer is dark grey representing 2 layers of graphene, and the inset shows the graphene layers creating a moiré pattern. The device has a central rectangular shape with 7 more rectangular shapes emanating from it.

Jennifer Chu | MIT News Office
January 30, 2023

With some careful twisting and stacking, MIT physicists have revealed a new and exotic property in “magic-angle” graphene: superconductivity that can be turned on and off with an electric pulse, much like a light switch.

The discovery could lead to ultrafast, energy-efficient superconducting transistors for neuromorphic devices — electronics designed to operate in a way similar to the rapid on/off firing of neurons in the human brain.

Magic-angle graphene refers to a very particular stacking of graphene — an atom-thin material made from carbon atoms that are linked in a hexagonal pattern resembling chicken wire. When one sheet of graphene is stacked atop a second sheet at a precise “magic” angle, the twisted structure creates a slightly offset “moiré” pattern, or superlattice, that is able to support a host of surprising electronic behaviors.

Complete article from MIT News.

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