ArXiv · 2026
Twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) near the first magic angle (θ≈1.05^∘) hosts flat bands that provide a fertile ground for exploring strongly correlated and topological phases. At smaller twist angles (θ<1^∘), attice relaxation profoundly alters the moiré landscape. The extent to which moiré lattice reconstruction at different length scales affects the electronic structure through electro-mechanical coupling remains unresolved. Here, using scanning tunneling microscopy on small-angle TBG devices (θ≈0.3-0.7^∘), we observe a pronounced dI/dV peak at the AA site of the moiré lattice on top of a spectrum that is asymmetric about the charge neutrality point, lattice reconstruction over moiré lattice length scales, as well as a dilation of the atomic lattice at the AA sites. We demonstrate at a phenomenological level that the inclusion of moiré lattice reconstruction supports compact localized heavy fermion f- states localized at AA sites. The additional inclusion of atomic lattice dilation enerates a strong flexo-electric response that explicitly breaks particle-hole symmetry, pushing compact, localized f-states at the AA sites down in energy. Consequently, these heavy fermion states energetically coexist with itinerant c-electrons at the AB/BA sites. Our spatially resolved spectroscopic measurements quantitatively visualize this coexistence, confirming the persistence of the heavy fermion model in the small-angle regime θ<1^∘. Our findings provide microscopic insights into how flexo-electricity affects the low-energy electronic structure of small-angle TBG. More broadly, our study establishes small-angle TBG as a new class of moiré materials to explore the interacting Kondo lattice problem with high tunability of the f-occupation and c-density through twist-angle and electrostatic back gates, respectively.
Try inveni