Carbon isotope effect on the magic-angle superconducting transition temperature
In plain words
Replacing carbon-12 by heavier carbon-13 slows the lattice vibrations, and the resulting shift of the superconducting transition temperature, compared with what each pairing theory predicts, would test whether phonons bind the pairs.
Precise statement
For magic-angle devices built from 13C-enriched graphene, measure the isotope coefficient $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}} = -d \ln T_c / d \ln M$ at fixed twist angle, filling and heterostrain, and compare it with the value each candidate mechanism predicts. For pairing by K-point optical phonons ($\hbar \omega \sim 0.15\,\mathrm{eV}$ $>> \text{ flat-band width}$ $W \sim 10\,\mathrm{meV}$) the anti-adiabatic regime can give $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}}$ well below the BCS value 0.5; a purely electronic mechanism gives $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}} \sim 0$. Since $\ln(13/12) = 0.08$, the answer is $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}}$ with an error bar small enough to separate the computed predictions, which requires a statistical ensemble of devices.
What would settle it
Transport $T_c$ measured on ensembles of 12C and 13C magic-angle devices with matched angle and strain and quantified sample-to-sample scatter, compared with mechanism-specific calculations of $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}}$ in the flat-band regime.
Status in the literature
Unverified note: it names recent work and was partly written without a live literature search; it awaits a check by an editor.
No measurement on isotope-enriched magic-angle devices is known to this survey as of 2026.
Parent problems
- Special case of What binds electron pairs in magic-angle graphene superconductors? · open · from revision 1
Results
No results have been posted on this problem yet.
Post a result · how results are checked
Sign in to follow or save this problem
Comments (0)
Comments are not records: they are not signed, stamped or logged. How comments work
No comments yet.
Sign in to comment.