Abstract
Spin–orbit coupling (SOC) has played an important role in many topological and correlated electron materials. In graphene-based systems, SOC induced by a transition metal dichalcogenide at close proximity has been shown to drive topological states and strengthen superconductivity. However, in rhombohedral multilayer graphene, a robust platform for electron correlation and topology, superconductivity and the role of SOC remain largely unexplored. Here we report transport measurements of transition metal dichalcogenide-proximitized rhombohedral trilayer graphene. We observed a hole-doped superconducting state SC4 with a critical temperature of 234 mK. On the electron-doped side, we noted an isospin-symmetry-breaking three-quarter-metal phase and observed that the nearby weak superconducting state SC3 is substantially enhanced. Surprisingly, the original superconducting state SC1 in bare rhombohedral trilayer graphene is strongly suppressed in the presence of transition metal dichalcogenide—opposite to the effect of SOC on all other graphene superconductivities. Our observations form the basis of exploring superconductivity and non-Abelian quasiparticles in rhombohedral graphene devices.
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Data availability
The data shown in the main figures are available via the Harvard Dataverse at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JTUM2H (ref. 63). The datasets generated during and/or analysed during this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request. Source data are provided with this paper.
Code availability
The code used to calculate Fig. 3i is available via the Harvard Dataverse at https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/JTUM2H (ref. 63).
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Acknowledgements
We acknowledge helpful discussions with T. Senthil, E. Berg, A. Stern, L. Levitov, Z. Dong, T. Wang and J. Alicea. We thank D. Zumbühl, A. Cotton, O. Sedeh, M. Xu, H. Weldeyesus, C. Scheller and Z. Hadjri for assistance in measurement during the revision process. L.J. acknowledges support from a Sloan Fellowship. J.Y. and J.S. were supported by NSF grant DMR-2414725. T.H. was supported by NSF grant DMR-2225925. The device fabrication for this work was carried out at the Harvard Center for Nanoscale Systems and MIT.nano. The data analysis and writing were supported by the Nano & Material Technology Development Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT (RS-2024-004447252). K.W. and T.T. acknowledge support from the JSPS KAKENHI (grants 20H00354, 21H05233 and 23H02052) and the World Premier International Research Center Initiative (WPI), MEXT, Japan. C.Y. and F.Z. were supported by the NSF under grants DMR-2414726, DMR-1945351, DMR-2105139 and DMR-2324033; they also acknowledge the Texas Advanced Computing Center (TACC) for providing resources that have contributed to the research results reported in this work.
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L.J. supervised the project. J.Y., X.S., Z.L. and V.K. performed the DC magneto-transport measurements. J.Y., S.Y., T.H. and L.S. fabricated the devices. J.S., Z.L. and T.H. helped with installing and testing the dilution refrigerator. K.W. and T.T. grew the hBN crystals. C.Y. and F.Z. performed the theoretical calculations. All authors discussed the results and wrote the paper.
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Extended data
Extended Data Fig. 1 Superconductivity in a second device D2.
a, Four-terminal resistance Rxx as a function of n and D for device D2. Similar to D1, well-developed SC4 and SC3 can be observed in both D > 0 and D < 0 regime. Inset: optical image of the device. “S” and “D” stand for source and drain, and Rxx is measured from contact “1” / “2”. b, Illustration of sample structure. Different from D1, in D2 RTG is encapsulated by two bilayer tungsten diselenide (2L-WSe2). Thus, the top and bottom 2L-WSe2 are aligned in 0° with respect to each other to preserve the inversion symmetry. c, Differential resistance dV/dI as a function of the direct current IDC of SC4 and SC3, measured at the square and the circle markers in a.
Extended Data Fig. 2 Out-of-plane magnetic field dependence of critical current and the Berezinskii–Kosterlitz–Thouless transition.
a–d, Differential resistance dV/dI as a function of the direct current IDC and out-of-plane magnetic field B⊥, for D1 SC4 (a), D1 SC3 (b), D2 SC4 (c), and D2 SC3 (d). Fraunhofer oscillation patterns can be seen in D1 SC4 but not in other superconducting states. e, f, Voltage V as a function of direct current IDC at different temperature, for D1 SC4 (e) and D1 SC3 (f), measured at the green and orange marker positions in Fig. 1b. By comparing the data with V ~ I3 (grey dash lines), we can determine the Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless transition temperature TBKT is 173 mK for D1 SC4 and 85 mK for D1 SC3.
Extended Data Fig. 3 Temperature dependence of SC states in the single-side-TMD device D3.
a, c, Temperature dependence of SC1, when holes are in the top / bottom, proximitized to / far away from the TMD layer. e, Temperature dependence of SC4 for D > 0, corresponding to holes are close to the top TMD layer. g, i, Temperature dependence of SC3, when electrons are in the top / bottom, close to / far away from the TMD layer. b, d, f, h and j, Temperature dependence of dV/dIDC, corresponding to the superconducting states in a, c, e, g and i.
Extended Data Fig. 4 Temperature dependence of superconducting states in D2.
a, Rxx as a function of n and D near SC4 in D2. b, c, Temperature dependence of Rxx in SC4, measured at D = −0.20 V/nm and D = −0.17 V/nm. d, Rxx as a function of n and D near SC3 in D2. e–i, Temperature dependence of Rxx in SC4, measured from D = 0.14 V/nm to D = 0.26 V/nm, respectively.
Extended Data Fig. 5 Temperature dependence of SC4 in D2 at different in-plane magnetic field.
a–c, Temperature dependence of Rxx at B‖ = 0.2, 0.4, and 0.6 T, respectively. d, Critical temperature Tc at n = −0.77 * 1012 cm−2, as a function of in-plane magnetic field B‖. Solid line is fitted with Tc/Tc,B=0 = 1 – B‖2/BSOBP, where the effective spin-orbit field BSO = λI/2gμB. Assuming g = 2, we can extract Ising-SOC intensity λI ~ 0.6 meV.
Extended Data Fig. 6 Detailed analysis of Fermiology near SC4 in D1.
a, Four-terminal resistance Rxx of D1 near SC4. b, e, h, Rxx as a function of out-of-plane magnetic field B⊥, measured at the red dash lines in panel a: n = −0.76 × 1012 cm−2 (b), D = −0.2 V/nm (e), and D = −0.165 V/nm (h). c, f, i, Fourier transform of Rxx(1/B⊥) in b, e, and h. The grey dash lines highlight the phase boundaries identified by FFT peaks. White arrows mark the phase space of SC4. d, Analysis of the partially isospin-polarized (PIP) phase. Data are extracted from the right half of c. Black squares and red dots are extracted peak positions near f = 0 and f = 1/2, while blue, green, and purple lines are calculated by f1 + f2, 2 × f1 + f2, and 3 × f1 + f2. For |D| < 0.16 V/nm, blue line coincides with f = 1/2 (the grey dash line), indicating one single Fermi pocket instead of three in the less-populated isospin flavor. g, Illustration of expected Fermi surface in the PIP phase, when two of the four isospin flavors have low carrier densities. Due to the trigonal warping term, three small pockets are expected for each less-occupied flavor (upper panel). If we introduce some anisotropy in X-direction, only two or one pockets per flavor are also allowed (lower panel). Our data favors the last scenario, suggesting spontaneous nematicity.
Extended Data Fig. 7 More Fermiology analysis data.
a, The raw quantum oscillation data for Fig. 3e. b, c, Full quantum oscillation data and its FFT spectrum, measured in D1 near SC1. Figure 4f corresponds to the left half of Extended Data Fig. 7c. From low density to high density, three phases can be resolved by its FFT spectrum: HM, PIP, and FM with annular Fermi surfaces (FS), respectively.
Extended Data Fig. 8 Phase diagram and Anomalous Hall Effect of the Three-quarter-metal phase.
a, b, Four-terminal resistance Rxx of D1 and D2 in the D > 0, electron-doped side. Yellow dash lines highlight the three-quarter-metal phase (TQM). c, Fourier transform of Rxx(1/B⊥) up to B⊥ = 1 T in D2, measured at the black dash line in b. The red dash line corresponds to fν = 1/3, and the white-shaded box highlights the TQM phase. The grey dash line highlights the phase boundary of the half-metal (HM) phase, and the white arrow outlines the range of n corresponding SC3, which is again next to the boundary of HM phase. d, e, Hysteresis loop of Hall resistance Rxy measured at the quarter-metal (QM) phase on the electron side (d) at the grey triangle in a, and on the hole side (e). Data are anti-symmetrized with positive and negative magnetic field (also for f). The anomalous Hall signal and the hysteresis effect are the signatures of valley polarization. f, Hall resistance Rxy measured at full-metal (FM) phase and TQM phase, at the blue and red dot marker position in a. Anomalous Hall effect is observed in the TQM phase but not in the FM phase, indicating a net valley polarization in the TQM phase.
Extended Data Fig. 9 Full phase diagram near SC1 in D1 and D3 when carriers are close to TMD.
Longitudinal resistance Rxx as a function of n & D, measured at B = 0 T in (a) D1, D < 0 and (b) D3, D > 0. In D1, even towards the boundary of the HM phase, no signatures of superconductivity can be found. SC4 in D3 is highlighted by the yellow dashed box.
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Yang, J., Shi, X., Ye, S. et al. Impact of spin–orbit coupling on superconductivity in rhombohedral graphene. Nat. Mater. 24, 1058–1065 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02156-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41563-025-02156-3
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