Exotic Matter for Materials Science and Quantum Information Technologies

RWTH Professor Dante Kennes and his international partners have published their research findings on twisted van der Waals materials in the journal “Nature Physics”
 

Dante Kennes, Professor for Theoretical Condensed Matter Physics at RWTH, is one of the lead authors of the article “Moiré heterostructures as a condensed-matter quantum simulator” in the journal Nature Physics. Together with researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter in Hamburg, the Flatiron Institute, Columbia University, and the Max Planck - New York City Center for Non-equilibrium Quantum Phenomena, he has published the research teams’ findings on the ability of twisted van der Waals materials to realize novel and elusive states of matter. The results offer enormous potential for fundamental research as well as for applications in materials science and quantum information technologies.

Stacked layers of two-dimensional systems

Twisted van der Waals materials consist of stacked layers of two-dimensional systems at a relative rotation angle to each other. Research showed that they are a versatile tool for realizing many quantum model systems. Thus, they act as materials-based quantum simulators and open up new ways to provide clean systems that are extremely well controlled by the twist angle, stacking sequence, substrate or gating techniques. The potential of twisted van der Waals materials even multiplies when combined with other fields of condensed matter and quantum technology research. For example, investigating their interaction with non-equilibrium states or cavities could reveal even more rich physics.

“One of the strengths of these novel materials is that they offer an unprecedented level of tunability. This allows us to effectively realize many of the different lattice quantum models that have come into focus in the field of condensed matter research in recent decades,” says Kennes.