arXiv subjects

Kenji Watanabe

Publications and source records attributed to Kenji Watanabe.

At least 595 records · Page 33Linked to original sources

arXiv2025

Signatures of collective photon emission and ferroelectric ordering of excitons near their Mott insulating state in a WSe$_2$/WS$_2$ heterobilayer

Spontaneous symmetry breaking, arising from the competition of interactions and quantum fluctuations, is fundamental to understanding ordered electronic phases. Although electrically neutral, optical excitations like excitons can interact through their dipole moment, raising the possibility of optically active ordered phases. The effects of spontaneous ordering on optical properties remain largely unexplored. Recent observations of the excitonic Mott insulating state in semiconducting moiré crystals make them promising for addressing this question. Here, we present evidence for an in-plane ferroelectric phase of dipolar moiré excitons driven by strong exciton-exciton interactions. We discover a surprising speed-up of photon emission at late times and low densities in excitonic decay. This counterintuitive behavior is attributed to collective radiance, linked to the transition between disordered and symmetry-broken ferroelectric phases of moiré excitons. Our findings provide first evidence for strong dipolar inter-site interactions in moiré lattices, demonstrate collective photon emission as a probe for moiré quantum materials, and pave the way for exploring cooperative optical phenomena in strongly correlated systems.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Quantum geometric moment encodes stacking order of moiré matter

Exploring the topological characteristics of electronic bands is essential in condensed matter physics. Moiré materials featuring flat bands provide a versatile platform for engineering band topology and correlation effects. In moiré materials that break either time-reversal symmetry or inversion symmetry or both, electronic bands exhibit Berry curvature hotspots. Different stacking orders in these materials result in varied Berry curvature distributions within the flat bands, even when the band dispersion remains similar. However, experimental studies probing the impact of stacking order on the quantum geometric quantities are lacking. 1.4$^\circ$ twisted double bilayer graphene (TDBG) facilitates two distinct stacking orders (AB-AB, AB-BA) and forms an inversion broken \moire superlattice with electrically tunable flat bands. The valley Chern numbers of the flat bands depend on the stacking order, and the nonlinear Hall (NLH) effect distinguishes the differences in Berry curvature dipole (BCD), the first moment of Berry curvature. The BCD exhibits antisymmetric behavior, flipping its sign with the polarity of the perpendicular electric field in AB-AB TDBG, while it displays a symmetric behavior, maintaining the same sign regardless of the electric field's polarity in AB-BA TDBG. This approach electronically detects stacking-induced quantum geometry, while opening a pathway to quantum geometry engineering and detection.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Continuously tunable anomalous Hall crystals in rhombohedral heptalayer graphene

The interplay of electronic interactions and nontrivial topology can give rise to a wealth of exotic quantum states. A notable example is the formation of Wigner crystals driven by strong electron-electron interactions. When these electronic crystals emerge in a parent band carrying a large Berry curvature, they can exhibit topologically nontrivial properties as anomalous Hall crystals, spontaneously breaking both continuous translational symmetry and time-reversal symmetry. Here, we report the experimental observation of tunable anomalous Hall crystals in rhombohedral heptalayer graphene moiré superlattices. At filling factors near one electron per moiré unit cell (v=1), we identify a series of incommensurate Chern insulators with a Chern number of C=1. Furthermore, we observe spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking spanning the entire filling range from v=1 to v=2, manifesting as anomalous Hall effects with pronounced magnetic hysteresis. Notably, anomalous Hall crystals with a high Chern number C=3 are observed over generic fillings ranging from v=1.5 to v=2. These anomalous Hall crystals are incommensurate with the moiré superlattice and exhibit dispersive fan diagrams consistent with the Streda formula, with their positions continuously tunable through displacement fields. Remarkably, these partially filled Chern insulators display Chern numbers distinct from their parent bands. Our findings demonstrate the rich variety of electronic crystalline states in rhombohedral graphene moiré superlattices, offering valuable insights into the strongly correlated topological phases.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Current-induced brightening of vacancy-related emitters in hexagonal boron nitride

We perform photoluminescence measurements on vacancy-related emitters in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) that are notorious for their low quantum yields. The gating of these emitters via few-layer graphene electrodes reveals a reproducible, gate-dependent brightening of the emitter, which coincides with a change in the direction of the simultaneously measured leakage current across the hBN layers. At the same time, we observe that the relative increase of the brightening effect scales linearly with the intensity of the excitation laser. Both observations can be explained in terms of a photo-assisted electroluminescence effect. Interestingly, emitters can also show the opposite behavior, i.e. a decrease in emitter intensity that depends on the gate leakage current. We explain these two opposing behaviors with different concentrations of donor and acceptor states in the hBN and show that precise control of the doping of hBN is necessary to gain control over the brightness of vacancy-related emitters by electrical means. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of vacancy-related defects in hBN that is necessary to make use of their potential for quantum information processing.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Modulation of superconductivity across a Lifshitz transition in alternating-angle twisted quadrilayer graphene

We report electric field-controlled modulation of the Fermi surface topology and explore its effects on the superconducting state in alternating-angle twisted quadrilayer graphene (TQG). The unique combination of flat and dispersive bands in TQG allows us to simultaneously tune the band structure through carrier density, $n$, and displacement field, $D$. From density-dependent Shubnikov-de Haas quantum oscillations and Hall measurements, we quantify the $D$-dependent bandwidth of the flat and dispersive bands and their hybridization. In the high $|D|$ regime, the increased bandwidth favors the single particle bands, which coincides exactly with the vanishing of the superconducting transition temperature $T_c$, showing that superconductivity in TQG is strongly bound to the symmetry-broken state. For a range of lower $|D|$ values, a Lifshitz transition occurs when the flat and dispersive band Fermi surfaces merge within the $ν=+2$ symmetry-broken state. The superconducting state correspondingly shows an enhanced $T_c$, suggesting that the superconducting condensate is strongly dependent on the Fermi surface topology and density of states within this symmetry-broken state.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2025

Quantifying hydrogen bonding using electrically tunable nanoconfined water

Hydrogen bonding plays a crucial role in biology and technology, yet it remains poorly understood and quantified despite its fundamental importance. Traditional models, which describe hydrogen bonds as electrostatic interactions between electropositive hydrogen and electronegative acceptors, fail to quantitatively capture bond strength, directionality, or cooperativity, and cannot predict the properties of complex hydrogen-bonded materials. Here, we introduce a novel approach that conceptualizes the effect of hydrogen bonds as elastic dipoles in an electric field, which captures a wide range of hydrogen bonding phenomena in various water systems. Using gypsum, a hydrogen bond heterostructure with two-dimensional structural crystalline water, we calibrate the hydrogen bond strength through an externally applied electric field. We show that our approach quantifies the strength of hydrogen bonds directly from spectroscopic measurements and reproduces a wide range of key properties of confined water reported in the literature. Using only the stretching vibration frequency of confined water, we can predict hydrogen bond strength, local electric field, O-H bond length, and dipole moment. Our work also introduces hydrogen bond heterostructures - a new class of electrically and chemically tunable materials that offer stronger, more directional bonding compared to van der Waals heterostructures, with potential applications in areas such as catalysis, separation, and energy storage.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Superlative spin transport of holes in ultra-thin black phosphorus

The development of energy-efficient spin-based hybrid devices that can perform functions such as logic, communication, and storage requires the ability to control and transport highly polarized spin currents over long distances in semiconductors. While traditional semiconductors such as silicon support spin transport, the effects of carrier type and concentration on important spin parameters are not well understood due to the need for extrinsic doping, which can cause additional momentum and hence spin scattering. Two-dimensional semiconductors, on the other hand, offer the ability to tune carrier type and concentration through field effect gating and inherently have long intrinsic spin lifetimes, making them a desirable platform for spin transport. Here, we study gate-tunable spin transport across narrow band-gap black phosphorus-based spin valves which enable us to systematically investigate spin transport with varying hole and electron concentrations under non-local geometry. Our findings demonstrate exceptional pure spin transport that approaches intrinsic limit, particularly in the low hole doping range. We achieved record non-local signals reaching 350 Ω and spin lifetimes exceeding 16 ns. Contrary to the behaviour seen in typical semiconductors, we find that the spin transport performance of holes in black phosphorus is significantly better than that of electrons, with the Elliott-Yafet process being the primary spin scattering mechanism. The observation of gate-tunable nanosecond spin lifetimes and colossal pure spin signals in both p- and n-type black phosphorus offers promising prospects for the development of novel semiconducting spintronics devices requiring sharp p-n interfaces.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Signatures of Chiral Superconductivity in Rhombohedral Graphene

Chiral superconductors are unconventional superconducting states that break time reversal symmetry spontaneously and typically feature Cooper pairing at non-zero angular momentum. Such states may host Majorana fermions and provide an important platform for topological physics research and fault-tolerant quantum computing. Despite intensive search and prolonged studies of several candidate systems, chiral superconductivity has remained elusive so far. Here we report the discovery of robust unconventional superconductivity in rhombohedral tetra- and penta-layer graphene in the absence of moiré superlattice effects. We observed two superconducting states in the gate-induced flat conduction bands with Tc up to 300 mK and charge density ne as low as 2.4*1011 cm-2 in three tetralayer and two pentalayer devices. Spontaneous time-reversal-symmetry-breaking (TRSB) due to electron's orbital motion is found, and several observations indicate the chiral nature of these superconducting states, including: 1. In the superconducting state, Rxx shows magnetic hysteresis in varying out-of-plane magnetic field B, which is absent from all other superconductors; 2. the superconducting states are immune to in-plane magnetic field and are developed within a spin- and valley-polarized quarter-metal phase; 3. the normal states show anomalous Hall signals at zero magnetic field and magnetic hysteresis. We also observed a critical B of up to 1.4 Tesla, higher than any graphene superconductivity reported so far and indicates a strong-coupling superconductivity close to the BCS-BEC crossover. Our observations establish a pure carbon material for the study of topological superconductivity, and pave the way to explore Majorana modes and topological quantum computing.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Density-dependent spin susceptibility and effective mass in monolayer MoSe2

Atomically thin MoSe2 is a promising platform for investigating quantum phenomena due to its large effective mass, high crystal quality, and strong spin-orbit coupling. In this work, we demonstrate a triple-gate device design with bismuth contacts, enabling reliable ohmic contact down to low electron densities, with a maximum Hall mobility of approximately 22,000 cm2/Vs. Low-temperature transport measurements illustrate metal-insulator transitions, and density-dependent quantum oscillation sequences. Enhanced spin susceptibility and density-dependent effective mass are observed, attributed to interaction effects and valley polarization. These findings establish monolayer MoSe2 as a versatile platform for further exploring interaction-driven quantum states.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

A Van der Waals Moiré Bilayer Photonic Crystal Cavity

Enhancing light-matter interactions with photonic structures is critical in classical and quantum nanophotonics. Recently, Moiré twisted bilayer optical materials have been proposed as a promising means towards a tunable and controllable platform for nanophotonic devices, with proof of principle realisations in the near infrared spectral range. However, the realisation of Moiré photonic crystal (PhC) cavities has been challenging, due to a lack of advanced nanofabrication techniques and availability of standalone transparent membranes. Here, we leverage the properties of the van der Waals material hexagonal Boron Nitride to realize Moiré bilayer PhC cavities. We design and fabricate a range of devices with controllable twist angles, with flatband modes in the visible spectral range (~ 450 nm). Optical characterization confirms the presence of spatially periodic cavity modes originating from the engineered dispersion relation (flatband). Our findings present a major step towards harnessing a two-dimensional van der Waals material for the next-generation of on chip, twisted nanophotonic systems.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2025

Unveiling resilient superconducting fluctuations in atomically thin NbSe$_2$ through Higgs mode spectroscopy

We report a combined electrical transport and optical study of the superconductivity in atomically thin NbSe$_2$. When subjected to an out-of-plane magnetic field, an anomalous metallic state emerges, characterized by a finite longitudinal resistance and a vanishing Hall resistance, suggesting the presence of particle-hole symmetry. We establish a superconducting Higgs mode in atomically thin samples, which reveals enduring superconducting fluctuations that withstand unexpectedly high reduced magnetic fields. These findings provide evidence of robust locally paired electrons in the anomalous metallic state, affirming its bosonic nature.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2025

Spin-valley locked excited states spectroscopy in a one-particle bilayer graphene quantum dot

Current semiconductor qubits rely either on the spin or on the charge degree of freedom to encode quantum information. By contrast, in bilayer graphene the valley degree of freedom, stemming from the crystal lattice symmetry, is a robust quantum number that can therefore be harnessed for this purpose. The simplest implementation of a valley qubit would rely on two states with opposite valleys as in the case of a single-carrier bilayer graphene quantum dot immersed in a small perpendicular magnetic field ($B_\perp\lesssim 100$mT). However, the single-carrier quantum dot excited states spectrum has not been resolved to date in the relevant magnetic field range. Here, we fill this gap, by measuring the parallel and perpendicular magnetic field dependence of this spectrum with an unprecedented resolution of $4μ$eV. We use a time-resolved charge detection technique that gives us access to individual tunnel events. Our results come as a direct verification of the predicted spectrum and establish a new upper-bound on inter-valley mixing, equal to our energy resolution. Our charge detection technique opens the door to measuring the relaxation time of a valley qubit in a single-carrier bilayer graphene quantum dot.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Quadrupolar Excitons in MoSe$_2$ Bilayers

The quest for platforms to generate and control exotic excitonic states has greatly benefited from the advent of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers and their heterostructures. Among the unconventional excitonic states, quadrupolar excitons - a superposition of two dipolar excitons with anti-aligned dipole moments - are of great interest for applications in quantum simulations and for the investigation of many-body physics. Here, we unambiguously demonstrate the emergence of quadrupolar excitons in natural MoSe$_2$ homobilayers, whose energy shifts quadratically in electric field. In contrast to trilayer systems, MoSe$_2$ homobilayers have many advantages, which include a larger coupling between dipolar excitons. Our experimental observations are complemented by many-particle theory calculations offering microscopic insights in the formation of quadrupolar excitons. Our results suggest TMD homobilayers as ideal platform for the engineering of excitonic states and their interaction with light and thus candidate for carrying out on-chip quantum simulations.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Spin-Valley Protected Kramers Pair in Bilayer Graphene

The intrinsic valley degree of freedom makes bilayer graphene (BLG) a unique platform for semiconductor qubits. The single-carrier quantum dot (QD) ground state exhibits a two-fold degeneracy, where the two states that constitute a Kramers pair, have opposite spin and valley quantum numbers. Because of the valley-dependent Berry curvature, an out-of-plane magnetic field breaks the time-reversal symmetry of this ground state and a qubit can be encoded in the spin-valley subspace. The Kramers states are protected against known spin- and valley-mixing mechanisms because mixing requires a simultaneous change of both quantum numbers. Here, we fabricate a tunable QD device in Bernal BLG and measure a spin-valley relaxation time for the Kramers states of ${38~\mathrm{s}}$, which is two orders of magnitude longer than the ${0.4~\mathrm{s}}$ measured for purely spin-blocked states. We also show that the intrinsic Kane-Mele spin-orbit splitting enables a Kramers doublet single-shot readout even at zero magnetic field with a fidelity above ${99\%}$. If these long-lived Kramers states also possess long coherence times and can be effectively manipulated, electrostatically defined QDs in BLG may serve as long-lived semiconductor qubits, extending beyond the spin qubit paradigm.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Preserving Twist-Angle in Marginally Twisted Double-Bilayer Graphene Devices During Fabrication

Twisted van der Waals heterostructures provide a platform for studying a wide range of electron correlation phenomena, including unconventional superconductivity and correlated insulating states. However, fabricating such devices is challenging due to the difficulty in achieving and maintaining homogeneous twist-angles. Here, we present a fabrication method to preserve the twist-angle with minimal deformation. We fabricated marginally twisted double-bilayer graphene (mTDBG) stacks and directly imaged the resulting triangular superlattice periodicity via scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM). This technique enabled us to monitor twist-angle deformation at each fabrication step, paving the way for more reliable device fabrication and facilitating the exploration of twist-angle-dependent physics.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Kerr non-linearity enhances the response of a graphene Josephson bolometer

Highly sensitive, broadband bolometers are of great interest because of their versatile usage in wide areas starting from dark matter search, radio astronomy, material science, and qubit readouts in cQED experiments. There have been different realizations of bolometers using superconducting thin films, nanowires, quantum dots, and various 2D materials in the recent past. The challenge is to have a single device that combines high sensitivity, broad bandwidth, a fast readout mechanism, and low noise. Here we demonstrate the first usage of a Josephson parametric amplifier (JPA) as a highly sensitive bolometer. Our key finding is the Kerr non-linearity of the JPA boosts the device's sensitivity. When the bolometer is biased in the non-linear regime, it enhances the sideband signals (~100 times), resulting in an order of magnitude improvement in sensitivity compared to the linear regime. In the non-linear biasing of the device, we achieve a NEP~500 aW/sqrt(Hz). Our bolometer offers a fast detection scheme with a thermal time constant of 4.26 us and an intrinsic JPA time constant of 70 ns. Our device's broadband and fast operation are key and new compared to previously studied graphene-based bolometers. In our device, the gate voltage tunability and the possibility of multiplexing combined with the sensitive bolometric performance offer an opportunity for integrated quantum sensor arrays. Our work demonstrates a way forward to enhance the performance of quantum sensors based on 2D materials by leveraging the inherent non-linear response.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Electric field tunable bands in doubly aligned bilayer graphene hBN moire superlattice

In this letter, we demonstrate electric field-induced band modification of an asymmetrically twisted hBN/BLG/hBN supermoire lattice. Distinct from unaligned BLG/hBN systems, we observe regions in the density-displacement field (n-D) plane where the device conductance is independent of n and decreases as |D| increases. This distinction arises due to the angle asymmetry between the layers, which induces field-controlled layer polarization. We identify D-dependent additional band gaps near the charge neutrality point that appear in the conduction (valence) band for negative (positive) D values. In the quantum Hall regime, new 6-fold degenerate Landau levels are observed. Our findings establish that in an asymmetric supermoire heterostructure, an external vertical displacement field affects the valence and conduction bands very differently and sheds light on the asymmetric conductance patterns noted in previous studies.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Experimental signature of layer skyrmions and implications for band topology in twisted WSe2 bilayers

Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) twisted homobilayers have been established as an ideal platform for studying strong correlation phenomena, as exemplified by the recent discovery of fractional Chern insulator (FCI) states in twisted MoTe2 and Chern insulators (CI) and unconventional superconductivity in twisted WSe2 (tWSe2). In these systems, nontrivial topology in the strongly layer-hybridized regime can arise from a spatial patterning of interlayer tunneling amplitudes and layer-dependent potentials that yields a lattice of layer skyrmions. Here we report on experimental signatures of skyrmion textures in the layer degree of freedom of Rhombohedral-stacked (R-stacked) tWSe2 homobilayers. This observation is based on scanning tunneling spectroscopy that separately resolves the Gamma-valley and K-valley moiré electronic states. We show that Gamma-valley states are subjected to a moiré potential with an amplitude of ~ 120 meV. At ~150 meV above the Gamma-valley, the K-valley states are subjected to a weaker moiré potential of ~30 meV. Most significantly, we reveal opposite layer polarizations of the K-valley at the MX and XM sites within the moiré unit cell, confirming the theoretically predicted layer skyrmion texture. The dI/dV mappings allow the parameters that enter the continuum model of moiré bands in twisted TMD bilayers to be determined experimentally, further establishing a direct correlation between the shape of the LDOS profile in real space and the topology of topmost moiré band.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗