Superconductivity from dual-surface carriers in rhombohedral graphene

Nature Physics (2026) Cite this article Rhombohedral graphene at charge neutrality hosts an unusual low-energy electronic wavefunction that is predominantly localized at its top and bottom layers and has negligible presence in the bulk. Increasing the number of graphene layers amplifies the density of states near charge neutrality and thereby enhances the susceptibility to symmetry-breaking phases. Here we report superconductivity in rhombohedral graphene arising from this charge-delocalized semimetallic normal state, which is characterized by coexisting valence- and conduction-band Fermi pockets split over opposite crystal surfaces. In octalayer graphene, the superconductivity appears in five apparently distinct regions of the phase diagram for each sign of an external electric displacement field. In a moiré superlattice sample where heptalayer graphene is aligned on one side to hexagonal boron nitride, two regions of superconductivity emerge from a single sharp resistive feature. At higher displacement field, the same resistive feature additionally induces an anomalous Hall state quantized at h/e2 when the doping is close to one electron per moiré unit cell. Our findings highlight the various superconducting regimes in multilayer graphene and create opportunities for coupling to nearby topological states.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 checkoutRaw data for Figs. 1–4 and Extended Data Figs. 1–10 are available via Zenodo (https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19675446)64. Source data are provided with this paper. All other data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding authors upon request.Xiao, R. et al. Density functional investigation of rhombohedral stacks of graphene: topological surface states, nonlinear dielectric response, and bulk limit. Phys. Rev. B 84, 165404 (2011).ADS Google Scholar Guinea, F., Castro Neto, A. H. & Peres, N. M. R. Electronic states and Landau levels in graphene stacks. Phys. Rev. B 73, 245426 (2006).ADS Google Scholar Min, H. & MacDonald, A. H. Chiral decomposition in the electronic structure of graphene multilayers. Phys. Rev. B 77, 155416 (2008).ADS Google Scholar Koshino, M. & McCann, E. Trigonal warping and Berry’s phase nπ in ABC-stacked multilayer graphene. Phys. Rev. B 80, 165409 (2009).ADS Google Scholar Slizovskiy, S., McCann, E., Koshino, M. & Fal’ko, V. I. Films of rhombohedral graphite as two-dimensional topological semimetals. Commun. Phys. 2, 164 (2019).

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The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is supported by the NSF (Award No. NSF/DMR-2128556) and the State of Florida. K.W. and T.T. acknowledge support from the JSPS (KAKENHI Grant Nos. 21H05233 and 23H02052) and the World Premier International Research Center Initiative, MEXT, Japan. This work made use of shared fabrication facilities at UW provided by NSF MRSEC (Award No. 2308979).These authors contributed equally: Manish Kumar, Derek Waleffe, Anna Okounkova.Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USAManish Kumar, Derek Waleffe, Anna Okounkova & Matthew YankowitzDepartment of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaRaveel Tejani & Joshua FolkQuantum Matter Institute, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, CanadaRaveel Tejani & Joshua FolkNational High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Tallahassee, FL, USAVõ Tiến Phong & Cyprian LewandowskiDepartment of Physics, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USAVõ Tiến Phong & Cyprian LewandowskiResearch Center for Electronic and Optical Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, JapanKenji WatanabeResearch Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba, JapanTakashi TaniguchiDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USAMatthew YankowitzSearch 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 ScholarSearch author on:PubMed Google ScholarM.K. fabricated the samples with assistance from A.O. M.K., D.W. and A.O. led the measurements at UBC remotely, with R.T. assisting on-site. V.T.P. performed the theoretical calculations supervised by C.L. K.W. and T.T. provided the hBN crystals. J.F. and M.Y. supervised the project.Correspondence to Joshua Folk or Matthew Yankowitz.The authors declare no competing interests.Nature Physics thanks the anonymous reviewers 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.a, Optical micrograph of the misaligned R8G device. b, Same as (a) for the moiré R7G device. For both, the scale bar is 10 μm. c, Map of ρxx for the R8G device measured over a wide range of Vb and Vt. The map is acquired in pieces and stitched together, with different silicon gate voltages in order to optimally reduce the contact resistance in each quadrant. d, Same as (c) for the R7G device. e, The map from (c) converted to n − D axes (see Methods for conversion). f, Same as (e) for the R7G device.a, Map of ρxx versus Vb and Vt at base temperature and B = 0. The highly resistive feature in the top right is the correlated insulator at the CNP surrounding D =0. Superconducting pockets SC18 to SC48, and their corresponding D 0. The feature in the bottom left corner exhibits unusual nonlinear behavior and does not appear for D > 0; at present, we do not know its origin. b, Map of ρxx versus Vb and Vt showing SC18 and SC68. c, Landau fan diagram taken by sweeping Vb with fixed Vt = − 2.55 V, corresponding to the black dashed line in (b). The sharp resistance step associated with the edge of SC18 slopes to the left with B, suggestive of a spin-polarized half-metal to the right and an isospin unpolarized phase to the left. d, Measurement of ρxx versus Vb and T at fixed Vt = 1.6 V and B = 0 for SC108. e, Similar measurement versus B at base temperature. f, Similar measurement as (d) for the SC68 pocket at fixed Vt = −2.2 V. g, Measurement of dV/dI versus Idc and B for SC68. h, Similar measurement for SC108. Both exhibit the similar zero bias anomalies as seen for the D > 0 pockets.a, Measurement of dV/dI versus Idc and B for SC38 taken in a subsequent cool-down cycle. b, line cuts at B values in (a) indicated by the black dashed lines. The absence of a zero-bias peak suggests that its presence in other measurements (Extended Data Figs. 3 and 4) is a contact effect. c, Measurement of ρxx versus Vb and B at fixed Vt = −2.55 V for SC38. There is a sharp suppression of ρxx very near B = 0 corresponding to superconductivity, as well as a weaker suppression persisting up to ≈ 50 mT. The latter likely corresponds to some effect other than superconductivity, although we do not know its origin. d, Zoom-in of ρxx at fixed Vt = − 2.60 V close to B = 0 showing the evolution from a sharp suppression below a few millitesla to a weaker suppression at larger B. e, Line cuts corresponding to the dashed lines in (d) showing the presence of Fraunhofer oscillations around low B, with a period of 0.61 mT -outlined by the vertical dashed lines.a, Map of ρxx versus Vb and Vt at base temperature and B = 0. b, Similar measurement at T = 146 mK, above Tc of SC17. c, Similar measurement, over a narrowed range of Vt, at base temperature and symmetrized at ∣B∣ = 10 mT, above Bc. d, Measurement of ρxx versus B and T at optimal doping of SC17 (Vb = 1.40 V and Vt = -3.22 V). e, Measurement of ρxx versus Vb and B at base temperature and fixed Vt = -3.23 V, corresponding to the line trace indicated by black dashed lines in (a). In this map, SC17 is bounded by two resistance bumps associated with nearly constant Vb, that is, the surface associated with the valence band. f, Measurements of dV/dI versus Idc at selected values of B taken at optimal doping of SC17 (Vb = 1.40 V and Vt = -3.22 V). g, Map of dV/dI versus Idc and B.a, Map of ρxx versus Vb and Vt around SC58 from the R8G device. b, Similar measurement around SC17 from the R7G device. In both, the diagonal insulating feature in the top left corresponds to the band insulator at the CNP. The resistive feature to its left corresponds is diagonal at large Vb, but becomes nearly vertical at smaller Vb in the band-overlapping regime. In both cases, this feature becomes superconducting when it is intersected by a horizontal resistive bump. the pocket of superconductivity closes when it intersects with a second horizontal resistive bump at smaller Vb. The similarities of these two pockets suggests they share similar origins. c, Landau fan taken by sweeping Vt at fixed Vb = 4.00 V, along the black dashed line in (a). d, Landau fan taken by sweeping Vt at fixed Vb = 2.10 V, along the black dashed line in (b). In both, the sharp resistive bump feature that develops into superconductivity drifts to the left with B, consistent with a spin-polarized half-metal to the right gaining Zeeman energy over an unpolarized phase to the left.a, Map of ρxx versus Vb and Vt taken at base temperature and B = 0. b, Landau fan taken by sweeping Vb at fixed Vt = − 4 V, corresponding to the black dashed line in (a). Red, blue, purple, and cyan arrows denote the positions of key features, corresponding to the red, blue, purple, and cyan dots from (a). c, FFT of the Landau fan. d, Zoom-in of the FFT between Vb = 0 and 1.84 V. The dominant frequencies in the FFT abruptly change between the red and blue arrows, indicating a Fermi surface reconstruction in the region where SC17 forms at nearby Vt. e, Schematic of the dominant frequencies from the FFT between Vb = 1.84 V and 4.00 V. For Vb > 2.8 V, corresponding to crossing the jet, the dominant frequency is 0.25 indicating a single, simply-connected Fermi surface from the conduction band. For Vb > 3.32 V, upon crossing the sharp resistive bump feature associated with superconductivity and the IQAH state, the dominant frequency shifts to 0.5, indicating a half-metal state. The associated feature drifts to the left in the Landau fan, consistent with a spin-polarized half-metal state.a, Map of ρxx versus Vb and Vt. b, Measurements of dV/dI versus Idc for several selected values of B. c, Measurement of ρxx versus Vt and T at fixed Vb = − 0.95 V and B = 0. d, Similar measurement as (c) versus B at base temperature. e, Measurement of ρxx versus T (taken at Vb = -0.95 V and Vt = − 2.93 V). f, Measurement of ρxx versus Vt at several selected values of T. (Inset) Map of dV/dI versus Idc and B (taken at Vb = -0.95 V and Vt = -2.93 V).a, Map of ρxx versus ν and D taken at base temperature and B = 0. b, Zoom-in of the region around ν = 1 at large D(B = 0). c, Map of ρxy over the same region as (b) (B = 0). d, Same as (b) symmetrized at B = 2 T. e, Same as (c) antisymmetrized at B = 2 T. f-h, Measurements of ρxx and ρxy versus ν taken at B = 0 at the positions of the corresponding color-coded dashed lines in (b). At D = 0.60 V/nm there is a single contiguous region near ν = 1.05 with ρxy ≈ h/e2 and small ρxx. At larger D, the state splits into two, with a resistive bump separating them. i, Landau fan of ρxx taken at D = 0.6 V/nm, corresponding to the black dashed line in (a). j, The same measurement as (i), but of ρxy. The fans show the C = + 1 state arising from B = 0, and the abrupt emergence of a C = − 1 state above B ≈ 0.6 T. The coexistence of these two states at modest B can also be seen from the maps in (d)-(e).Supplementary Figs. 1–18 and theoretical analysis.Source data for Fig. 2e.Source data for Fig. 3f.Source data for Fig. 4e,f.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 permissionsKumar, M., Waleffe, D., Okounkova, A. et al. Superconductivity from dual-surface carriers in rhombohedral graphene. Nat. Phys. (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03277-5Download citationReceived: 26 October 2025Accepted: 30 March 2026Published: 05 June 2026Version of record: 05 June 2026DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-026-03277-5Anyone 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