A sheet of magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene was found to be capable of hosting new topological phases of matter.

First discovered in 2018, magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (MATBG) is made when two layers of graphene - a special form of solid carbon whose atoms are arranged in a honeycomb-shaped lattice structure - are placed on top of one another and twisted at precisely 1.05 degrees from each other. As a result, MABTG has unique electronic properties, such as acting as a semiconductor material whose ability to insulate or conduct depends on the number of electrons added to the surface.

However, theoretical studies postulating its existence have been published since 2007. A study published in APS Physics has theoretically calculated the electronic structure of a "graphene bilayer with a relatively small angle rotation between the layers."

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