Superconductivity and spin canting in spin–orbit-coupled trilayer graphene

Caitlin L. Patterson, Owen I. Sheekey, Trevor B. Arp, Ludwig F. W. Holleis, Jin Ming Koh, Youngjoon Choi, Tian Xie, Siyuan Xu, Yi Guo, Hari Stoyanov, Evgeny Redekop, Canxun Zhang, Grigory Babikyan, David Gong, Haoxin Zhou, Xiang Cheng, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Martin E. Huber, Chenhao Jin, Étienne Lantagne-Hurtubise, Jason Alicea and Andrea F. Young ()
Additional contact information
Caitlin L. Patterson: University of California at Santa Barbara
Owen I. Sheekey: University of California at Santa Barbara
Trevor B. Arp: University of California at Santa Barbara
Ludwig F. W. Holleis: University of California at Santa Barbara
Jin Ming Koh: California Institute of Technology
Youngjoon Choi: University of California at Santa Barbara
Tian Xie: University of California at Santa Barbara
Siyuan Xu: University of California at Santa Barbara
Yi Guo: University of California at Santa Barbara
Hari Stoyanov: University of California at Santa Barbara
Evgeny Redekop: University of California at Santa Barbara
Canxun Zhang: University of California at Santa Barbara
Grigory Babikyan: University of California at Santa Barbara
David Gong: University of California at Santa Barbara
Haoxin Zhou: University of California at Santa Barbara
Xiang Cheng: University of California at Santa Barbara
Takashi Taniguchi: National Institute for Materials Science
Kenji Watanabe: National Institute for Materials Science
Martin E. Huber: University of Colorado Denver
Chenhao Jin: University of California at Santa Barbara
Étienne Lantagne-Hurtubise: California Institute of Technology
Jason Alicea: California Institute of Technology
Andrea F. Young: University of California at Santa Barbara

Nature, 2025, vol. 641, issue 8063, 632-638

Abstract: Abstract Graphene and transition metal dichalcogenide flat-band systems show similar phase diagrams, replete with magnetic1–5 and superconducting6–11 phases. An abiding question has been whether magnetic ordering competes with superconductivity or facilitates pairing. For example, recent studies of Bernal bilayer graphene in the presence of enhanced spin–orbit coupling show a substantial increase in the observed domain and critical temperature Tc of superconducting states12–14; however, the mechanism for this enhancement remains unknown. Here we show that introducing spin–orbit coupling in rhombohedral trilayer graphene (RTG) by substrate proximity effect generates new superconducting pockets for both electron and hole doping, with maximal Tc ≈ 300 mK, which is three times larger than in RTG encapsulated by hexagonal boron nitride. Using local magnetometry, we show that superconductivity straddles a transition between a spin-canted state with a finite in-plane magnetic moment and a state with complete spin–valley locking. This transition is reproduced in our Hartree–Fock calculations, in which this transition is driven by the competition between spin–orbit coupling and the carrier-density-tuned Hund’s interaction. Our experiment suggests that the enhancement of superconductivity by spin–orbit coupling is driven by a quantitative change in the canting angle rather than a change in the ground state symmetry. These results align with a recently proposed mechanism for the enhancement of superconductivity15, in which fluctuations in the spin-canting order contribute to the pairing interaction.

Date: 2025
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-025-08863-w

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