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arXiv · 2507.18598

Superconductivity from dual-surface carriers in rhombohedral graphene

Abstract

Intrinsic rhombohedral graphene hosts an unusual low-energy electronic wavefunction, predominantly localized at its outer crystal faces with negligible presence in the bulk. Increasing the number of graphene layers amplifies the density of states near charge neutrality, greatly enhancing the susceptibility to symmetry-breaking phases. Here, we report superconductivity in rhombohedral graphene arising from an unusual charge-delocalized semimetallic normal state, characterized by coexisting valence- and conduction-band Fermi pockets split to opposite crystal surfaces. In octalayer graphene, the superconductivity appears in five apparently distinct pockets for each sign of an external electric displacement field ($D$). In a moiré superlattice sample where heptalayer graphene is aligned on one side to hexagonal boron nitride, two pockets of superconductivity emerge from a single sharp resistive feature. At higher $D$ the same resistive feature additionally induces an $h/e^{2}$-quantized anomalous Hall state at dopings near one electron per moiré unit cell. Our findings reveal a novel superconducting regime in multilayer graphene and create opportunities for coupling to nearby topological states.

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Manish Kumar, Derek Waleffe, Anna Okounkova, Raveel Tejani, Vo Tien Phong, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Cyprian Lewandowski, Joshua Folk, Matthew Yankowitz. 2025-07-24. Superconductivity from dual-surface carriers in rhombohedral graphene. https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.18598

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