Twisted double-walled carbon nanotubes: A pathway to strongly correlated phases in 1D moiré superlattices*

After the breakthrough in twisted 2D van der Waals materials led by graphene multilayer systems and strongly spin-orbit coupled transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), little attention was given to the construction of 1D moiré superlattices [1,2]. Based on first-principle calculations, we demonstrate how 1D moiré superlattices can emerge in twisted double-walled carbon nanotubes (CNT) and that quasi one-dimensional flat bands are formed as a function of twist-angle. Including atomistic interaction effects [3], these flat electronic bands give rise to a variety of correlated phases, including Mott insulating and Luttinger-Liquid phases that we investigate using atomistic fRG and numerical exact density renormalization group (DMRG) methods. Based on our findings, we propose twisted CNTs as an unexplored platform to observe and experimentally control quasi 1D correlated physics.

[1] "Interlayer interaction in one-dimensional van den Waals moiré superlattices“, S. Zhao et al., arXiv:2107.13929

[2] “One-dimensional flat bands in twisted bilayer germanium selenide”, D. Kennes et al., Nat. Commun. 11, 1–8 (2020)

[3] "Unconventional Superconductivity in magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene“, A. Fischer et al., arXiv:2104.10176