Untwisting Moiré Physics: Almost Ideal Bands and Fractional Chern Insulators in Periodically Strained Monolayer Graphene
Qiang Gao, Junkai Dong, Patrick J. Ledwith, Daniel Parker, Eslam Khalaf
Abstract
Moiré systems have emerged in recent years as a rich platform to study strong correlations. Here, we will propose a simple, experimentally feasible setup based on periodically strained graphene that reproduces several key aspects of twisted moiré heterostructures-but without introducing a twist. We consider a monolayer graphene sheet subject to a C_{2}-breaking periodic strain-induced pseudomagnetic field with period L_{M}≫a, along with a scalar potential of the same period. This system has almost ideal flat bands with valley-resolved Chern number ±1, where the deviation from ideal band geometry is analytically controlled and exponentially small in the dimensionless ratio (L_{M}/l_{B})^{2}, where l_{B} is the magnetic length corresponding to the maximum value of the pseudomagnetic field. Moreover, the scalar potential can tune the bandwidth far below the Coulomb scale, making this a very promising platform for strongly interacting topological phases. Using a combination of strong-coupling theory and self-consistent Hartree-Fock, we find quantum anomalous Hall states at integer fillings. At fractional filling, exact diagonaliztion reveals a fractional Chern insulator at parameters in the experimentally feasible range. Overall, we find that this system has larger interaction-induced gaps, smaller quasiparticle dispersion, and enhanced tunability compared to twisted graphene systems, even in their ideal limit.