Researchers report a “family” of superconducting graphene structures

In 2018, MIT researchers found that if two graphene layers are stacked at a very specific “magic” angle, the twisted bilayer structure could exhibit robust superconductivity. Recently, the same group found a similar superconductive state exists in twisted trilayer graphene. Now, the team reports that four and five graphene layers can also be twisted and stacked at new magic angles to elicit robust superconductivity at low temperatures.

This latest discovery establishes the various twisted and stacked configurations of graphene as the first known “family” of multilayer magic-angle superconductors. The team also identified similarities and differences between graphene family members.