University of Manchester team discovers a new family of quasiparticles in graphene-based superlattices

Researchers at The University of Manchester, led by Sir Andre Geim and Dr Alexey Berdyugin, have discovered and characterized a new family of quasiparticles named ‘Brown-Zak fermions’ in graphene-based superlattices. This was achieved by aligning the atomic lattice of a graphene layer to that of an insulating boron nitride sheet, dramatically changing the properties of the graphene sheet.

The study follows years of successive advances in graphene-boron nitride superlattices which has previously allowed the observation of a fractal pattern known as the Hofstadter’s butterfly – and now, with this current work, the researchers report another highly surprising behavior of particles in such structures under applied magnetic field.