Physics Colloquium

Professor Shan will give the talk remotely via Zoom.

Viewing the Zoom talk will be restricted to those with a valid Caltech ID.

This talk will not be recorded.

Contact theoryinfo@caltech.edu for Zoom information.

When two van der Waals materials of slightly different orientations or lattice constants are overlaid, a moiré pattern emerges. The moiré pattern introduces a new length scale, many times the lattice constant of the original materials, for Bragg scattering of Bloch electrons in each layer.  This gives rise to moiré minibands and rich emergent quantum phenomena. In this talk, I will discuss recent experiments on angle-aligned semiconductor heterobilayers, which exhibit remarkable correlated insulating states [1,2,3]. I will also discuss the prospect of using moiré superlattices as a quantum simulator.  
1. Y. Tang et al., Nature 579, 353-358 (2020).
2. Y. Xu et al., Nature 587, 214–218 (2020).
3. C. Jin et al., Nat. Mater. 20, 940-944 (2021). 

Limited attendance in Feynman Lecture Hall, 201 E. Bridge to first 100 people. All attendees must show valid Caltech ID upon entry. Join via Zoom: https://caltech.zoom.us/j/89237465190. Meeting ID: 892 3746 5190