Cao Yuan is 25 years old; this is his 8th Nature paper today.

Its critical magnetic field reaches as high as 10 tesla—far exceeding predictions of current superconductivity theories (by roughly a factor of 2–3). (For reference, most hospital MRI machines operate at up to 3 tesla.) This also suggests that magic-angle graphene may be a rare magnetic-field-resistant superconductor. Cao Yuan proposes that superconductivity in trilayer magic-angle graphene may be driven by a mechanism capable of generating spin-triplet Cooper pairs. In the experiment, the researchers stacked three layers of graphene and rotated the middle layer by 1.56° relative to the outer layers to fabricate MATTG (magic-angle twisted trilayer graphene); they then tested MATTG’s superconductivity by applying an increasingly strong magnetic field parallel to the graphene plane using a large magnet. To their astonishment, MATTG’s superconductivity remained robust even as the external magnetic field increased—disappeared momentarily—and then re-emerged at even higher field strengths! At this point, the magnetic field intensity reached 10 tesla. Such behavior is impossible in conventional spin-singlet superconductors. In spin-singlet superconductors—which constitute the vast majority—the two electrons forming a Cooper pair possess opposite spins, making them highly susceptible to disruption by strong magnetic fields. Cao Yuan and colleagues hypothesize that trilayer graphene may represent a rare spin-triplet superconductor. Under the spin-triplet state, when exposed to strong magnetic fields, the energies of the two electrons in a Cooper pair shift in the same direction—i.e., they share identical spin orientation. Thus, regardless of magnetic field strength, the pair remains intact and superconductivity persists undisturbed. Cao Yuan’s team will conduct further investigations to confirm the material’s spin state. Four papers published in the first half of the year; the second half has just begun. Cao Yuan was born in 1996 and is now 25 years old. He completed elementary school grade six through high school in only three years; he scored 669 out of 750 on China’s national college entrance examination (Gaokao) in science subjects. Regarding this, he remarked: “I simply skipped some uninteresting parts of middle and high school.” In 2010, at age 14, Cao Yuan entered the Young Talent Program of the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) from Shenzhen Yaohua Experimental School, becoming one of the inaugural students admitted to the Yan Jici Physics Talents Class—a program enrolling only about 30 students annually. During his undergraduate studies, Cao Yuan conducted research in the laboratories of Professors Zejun Ding and Changgan Zeng, publishing related papers. In 2014, Cao Yuan received USTC’s highest undergraduate honor—the Guo Moruo Scholarship—the first scholarship officially approved by the Chinese government after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. That same year, Cao Yuan began doctoral studies at MIT, joining the research group led by Pablo Jarillo-Herrero—a renowned Spanish physicist specializing in graphene research. Jarillo-Herrero joined MIT as an Assistant Professor of Physics in January 2008 and was granted tenure. In 2018, he was promoted to Full Professor of Physics. His accolades include the IUPAP Young Scientist Prize in Semiconductor Physics, the Moore Foundation’s Quantum Materials Award (twice), and the Wolf Prize in Physics—often dubbed a “harbinger of the Nobel Prize.”

Research Highlight | Moiré Synaptic Transistor for Homogeneous-Architecture Reservoir Computing

Chin. Phys. Lett. 2023 40 (11): 117201 DOI: 10.1088/0256-307X/40/11/117201 Highlights A collaborative team led by Professors Shijun Liang and Feng Miao from the School of Physics at Nanjing University, together with Professor Bin Cheng’s group from the School of Science at Nanjing University of Science and Technology, has proposed, for the first time, a moiré synaptic transistor—opening up an important technological pathway toward future moiré electronic devices. Moiré Synaptic Transistor for Homogeneous-Architecture Reservoir Computing Background Moiré materials constitute a novel class of low-dimensional quantum materials formed by stacking two-dimensional atomic crystals. They exhibit exotic strongly correlated and topological physical properties. Unlike conventional quantum materials, moiré materials host rich quantum phases—including correlated insulators, orbital magnetism, and interfacial ferroelectricity—that can be actively tuned via external fields such as electric fields, optical fields, or strain fields. Consequently, moiré materials not only serve as an ideal platform for exploring fundamental physical phenomena but also hold tremendous promise for applications in moiré electronics. Current research primarily focuses on discovering and controlling novel quantum phases in moiré materials; however, designing functional moiré electronic devices leveraging these unique quantum states and tunability remains a widely pursued challenge. Summary Facing these opportunities and challenges, Professor Feng Miao’s collaborative team at Nanjing University’s School of Physics constructed a moiré superlattice heterostructure by precisely aligning hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) with bilayer graphene—akin to assembling ‘atomic LEGO’—and successfully realized, for the first time, a moiré synaptic transistor capable of emulating both short-term plasticity (STP) and long-term plasticity (LTP) observed in biological synapses. Furthermore, capitalizing on the highly tunable dynamics of the moiré synaptic transistor, the team proposed a fully moiré physical neural network (MPNN) capable of performing reservoir computing within a homogeneous architecture. Fig. 1. Moiré synaptic transistor. (a) Schematic illustration of a biological neural network and synapse. Spike signals emitted by neurons modulate postsynaptic membrane currents: weak signals induce short-term plasticity (STP), whereas strong signals trigger long-term plasticity (LTP). (b) Schematic illustration of an electrically tunable moiré potential generated by aligned h-BN and graphene lattices. Under weak electric fields, shallow moiré potentials provide transient modulation of electron distribution; under strong electric fields, deep moiré potentials strongly localize electrons onto the top graphene layer, enabling persistent modulation. (c–d) Structural schematic and optical image of the moiré synaptic transistor based on the moiré heterostructure. (e) Transfer characteristics of the moiré synaptic transistor under ±4 V gate-voltage sweep. (f) Transfer characteristics under ±12 V sweep, clearly exhibiting a memory window. (g) Relationship between memory window size and gate-voltage sweep range. Fig. 2. Experimental characterization of short-term plasticity. (a) Simulation of short-term memory behavior by the moiré synaptic transistor. (b–c) Simulation of paired-pulse facilitation (PPF) by the moiré synaptic transistor, and the dependence of the PPF index on the interval between applied pulses.

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The American Chemical Society and Moore Foundation announced the first recipients of the Postdoctoral Bridge Award in Quantum Materials to support early-career scientists facing funding gaps. This initiative aims to protect talent and ensure productivity during critical career development phases.

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