Topological flat bands, valley polarization, and interband superconductivity in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene with proximitized spin-orbit couplings

Yang-Zhi Chou; Yuting Tan; Fengcheng Wu; Sankar Das Sarma

doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.110.L041108

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Topological flat bands, valley polarization, and interband superconductivity in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene with proximitized spin-orbit couplings

Yang-Zhi Chou, Yuting Tan, Fengcheng Wu, Sankar Das Sarma

DOI 10.1103/PhysRevB.110.L041108 · Physical Review B

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Abstract

We study theoretically the magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene with proximity-induced Ising and Rashba spin-orbit couplings on the top layer. Topological flat bands (with three distinct phases) are generically realized by the spin-orbit couplings. Using a mean field analysis, we find that (partial) valley polarization prevails for a wide range of doping, suppressing the usual superconductivity with a pairing between time-reversal partners. Remarkably, we uncover that observable unconventional intervalley interband phonon-mediated superconductivity (with the highest Tc≈1.2K) can coexist with strong valley imbalance due to the approximate Fermi-surface nesting between two flat bands not related by time-reversal symmetry, and the dominant pairing is an intersublattice Ising pairing, corresponding to a mixture of p and d waves. In contrast, the intrasublattice Ising phonon-mediated superconductivity with s- and f-wave mixing emerges in the absence of valley imbalance. Our work reveals an unprecedented route of realizing unconventional superconductivity.