Optical control of orbital magnetism in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene

Nature Physics (2026)Cite this article Flat bands in twisted graphene structures host various strongly correlated and topological phenomena. Optically probing and controlling them can reveal important information such as symmetry and dynamics, but this has been challenging due to the small energy gap compared with optical wavelengths. Here we report on the near-infrared optical control of orbital magnetism and associated anomalous Hall effects in a magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene on a monolayer WSe2 device. We demonstrate control over the hysteresis and amplitude of the anomalous Hall effect near integer moiré fillings using circularly polarized light. By modulating the light helicity, we observe periodic modulation of the transverse resistance in a wide range of fillings, indicating light-induced orbital magnetization through a large inverse Faraday effect. At the transition between metallic and anomalous Hall effect regimes, we also reveal large and random switching of the Hall resistivity, which we attribute to the light-tuned percolating cluster of magnetic domains. Our results demonstrate the potential of the optical manipulation of correlation and topology in moiré structures.This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution Access Nature and 54 other Nature Portfolio journals Get Nature+, our best-value online-access subscription $32.99 / 30 days cancel any timeSubscribe to this journal Receive 12 print issues and online access $259.00 per yearonly $21.58 per issueBuy this articleUSD 39.95Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkoutThe data supporting the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.Cao, Y. et al. Unconventional superconductivity in magic-angle graphene superlattices. 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Work at Stanford University was supported by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Basic Energy Science, Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford, under contract number DE-AC02-76SF00515. J.M.-M. was supported by a Stanford University startup fund. E.P. was partially supported by the Koret Foundation. Work at the University of Washington is supported by NSF MRSEC DMR-1719797.Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USAEylon Persky, Léonie Parisot, Julian May-Mann & Aharon KapitulnikStanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, USAEylon Persky & Aharon KapitulnikDepartment of Applied Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USAEylon Persky & Aharon KapitulnikDepartment of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USAMinhao He, Jiaqi Cai & Xiaodong XuResearch Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, JapanTakashi TaniguchiResearch Center for Electronic and Optical Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, JapanKenji WatanabeDepartment of Physics, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USAJulian May-Mann & Aharon KapitulnikSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarE.P. and A.K. conceived the investigation and designed the experiments. E.P. and L.P. performed the experiments. X.X., M.H. and J.C. fabricated the sample. J.M.-M. performed the tight-binding calculations. T.T. and K.W. grew the hexagonal boron nitride crystals. E.P. and A.K. wrote the paper, with contributions from all authors.Correspondence to Eylon Persky.The authors declare no competing interests.Nature Physics thanks Leonardo C. Campos and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.Rxx measured as a function of the displacement field and the electron density at 300 mK.Source data(a,b) The amplitude of the hysteresis loops, \(\Delta {R}_{xy}={R}_{xy}^{B\uparrow }-{R}_{xy}^{B\downarrow }\), plotted as a function of the displacement field for ν = 0.89 (a) and for ν = 1.88 (b). (c,d) representative hysteresis loops at different displacement fields.Source dataTight binding calculation showing the spin up and down bands at valley K of MATBG, for displacement fields of -0.3, 0 and 0.3 V/nm. Spin-orbit coupling from proximity to the WSe2 layer was included, resulting in spin-split bands. The colors represent the layer polarization of the corresponding wavefunctions. For displacement fields of ± 0.3 V/nm, the layer polarization is between ~ 0.45 and ~ 0.55 along the line cut. For no displacement field, layer polarization is between ~ 0.47 and ~ 0.53.Source data(a) Measurements of Rxx before and after illuminating the sample, showing that the effect of light is not persistent. (b) Rxx measured as a function of filling for different polarization. The thermal broadening of the correlated insulators is the same for all incident polarizations.Source dataΔRxy as a function of the half wave-plate orientation for various incident optical power, taken at 300 mK with ν = 1.3 and D = 0 V/nm. The data show a slight increase in the oscillation amplitude as a function of the power.Source data(a) A hysteresis loop taken at ν = 0.95 under illumination. (b-e) ΔRxy as a function of the half wave-plate orientation, taken at different points along the hysteresis loop in a. The oscillations were smaller at fields where Rxy was saturated.Source dataΔRxy as a function of the half wave-plate orientation near (a) and far away (b) from ν = 1.Source dataSupplementary Sections 1–3, equations (1)–(27) and Fig. 1.Source data for Fig. 1.Source data for Fig. 2.Source data for Fig. 3.Source data for Fig. 4.Source data for Fig. 5.Statistical source data for Fig. 6.Source data for Extended Data Fig. 1.Source data for Extended Data Fig. 2.Source data for Extended Data Fig. 3.Source data for Extended Data Fig. 4.Source data for Extended Data Fig. 5.Source data for Extended Data Fig. 6.Source data for Extended Data Fig. 7.Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.Reprints and permissionsPersky, E., Parisot, L., He, M. et al. Optical control of orbital magnetism in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene. Nat. Phys. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03117-yDownload citationReceived: 01 April 2025Accepted: 28 October 2025Published: 06 January 2026Version of record: 06 January 2026DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-03117-yAnyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative