Correlated insulator and Chern insulators in pentalayer rhombohedral-stacked graphene

Abstract

Rhombohedral-stacked multilayer graphene hosts a pair of flat bands touching at zero energy, which should give rise to correlated electron phenomena that can be tuned further by an electric field. Moreover, when electron correlation breaks the isospin symmetry, the valley-dependent Berry phase at zero energy may give rise to topologically non-trivial states. Here we measure electron transport through hexagonal boron nitride-encapsulated pentalayer graphene down to 100 mK. We observed a correlated insulating state with resistance at the megaohm level or greater at charge density n = 0 and displacement field D = 0. Tight-binding calculations predict a metallic ground state under these conditions. By increasing D, we observed a Chern insulator state with C = −5 and two other states with C = −3 at a magnetic field of around 1 T. At high D and n, we observed isospin-polarized quarter- and half-metals. Hence, rhombohedral pentalayer graphene exhibits two different types of Fermi-surface instability, one driven by a pair of flat bands touching at zero energy, and one induced by the Stoner mechanism in a single flat band. Our results establish rhombohedral multilayer graphene as a suitable system for exploring intertwined electron correlation and topology phenomena in natural graphitic materials without the need for moiré superlattice engineering. Pentalayer graphene in the rhombohedral stacking order exhibits rich phases including a correlated insulator, isospin-polarized metals and Chern insulators. These findings demonstrate electron-correlated and topological states in crystalline 2D materials without the need for a moiré superlattice.