Tunable ferromagnetism at non-integer filling of a moiré superlattice (2012.10075v1)

Abstract: The flat bands resulting from moir\'e superlattices in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) and ABC-trilayer graphene aligned with hexagonal boron nitride (ABC-TLG/hBN) have been shown to give rise to fascinating correlated electron phenomena such as correlated insulators and superconductivity. More recently, orbital magnetism associated with correlated Chern insulators was found in this class of layered structures centered at integer multiples of n0, the density corresponding to one electron per moir\'e superlattice unit cell. Here we report the experimental observation of ferromagnetism at fractional filling of a flat Chern band in an ABC-TLG/hBN moir\'esuperlattice. The ferromagnetic state exhibits prominent ferromagnetic hysteresis behavior with large anomalous Hall resistivity in a broad region of densities, centered in the valence miniband at n = -2.3 n0. This ferromagnetism depends very sensitively on the control parameters in the moir\'e system: not only the magnitude of the anomalous Hall signal, but also the sign of the hysteretic ferromagnetic response can be modulated by tuning the carrier density and displacement field. Our discovery of electrically tunable ferromagnetism in a moir\'e Chern band at non-integer filling highlights the opportunities for exploring new correlated ferromagnetic states in moir\'e heterostructures.