Quantum Geometry of Moiré Flat Bands Beyond the Valley Paradigm

ORAL

Abstract

Moiré superlattices provide platforms for strongly correlated and topological phenomena governed by quantum geometry. The prevailing ``valley paradigm''---which relies on well-defined valley structures at high-symmetry Brillouin zone points---successfully describes systems like twisted bilayer graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides, but fails for materials lacking valley degrees of freedom. Here, we establish a general framework for engineering flat-band quantum geometry in twisted bipartite heterobilayers through sublattice-selective interlayer tunneling. Using twisted graphene-on-dice heterobilayers as a prototype, we demonstrate that preserving bipartiteness while hybridizing layers produces isolated, zero-energy flat bands with twist-angle-tunable multiplicity and Chern-insulator-scale Berry curvature. Crucially, these bands exhibit finite quantum metric arising from controlled interlayer hybridization rather than valley physics. Our results provide a systematic route to quantum geometry engineering in moiré systems beyond existing paradigms, with realizations in oxide heterostructures, molecular lattices, and synthetic quantum matter.

*The work at Northeastern University was supported by the National Science Foundation through the Expand-QISE award NSF-OMA2329067 and benefited from the resources of Northeastern University’s Advanced Scientific Computation Center, the Discovery Cluster, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative award MTC-22032, and the Quantum Materials and Sensing Institute.

Presenters

  • Xiaoting Zhou

    • Northeastern University

Authors

  • Xiaoting Zhou

    • Northeastern University
  • Yi-Chun Hung

    • Northeastern University
  • Arun Bansil

    • Department of Physics, Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
    • Northeastern University