Graduate student Tianhong Lu and Prof. Luiz Santos from Emory Physics Department have made exciting discoveries about exotic quantum states in a special material called twisted bilayer MoTe₂. Their research, published in Physical Review Letters, explores how electrons in this material can form Fractional Chern Insulators (FCIs)—a rare type of quantum phase supporting fractional quasiparticles that doesn’t require an external magnetic field. Unlike typical electronic states, electrons in this system are shaped by a delicate nanoscale pattern created by the overlapping atomic layers. Using composite fermion theory, the authors have mapped out a series of FCIs that give rise to unusual electrical behaviors, such as precise fractions of Hall conductivity observed in experiments, shedding new light on novel topological phenomena in moiré quantum materials.
Publication: T. Lu and L.H. Santos, Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 186602(2024).