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Pearl-Vortex Tunneling in Magic-Angle Twisted Graphene

Marta Perego1,2,*, Peter Koopmann1,2, Clara Galante Agero1,2, Alexandra Mestre Torà1,2, Artem O. Denisov1,2, Takashi Taniguchi3, Kenji Watanabe4, Vadim Geshkenbein5, Gianni Blatter5,2 et al.

Thomas Ihn1,2 and Klaus Ensslin1,2

  • *Contact author: mperego@phys.ethz.ch

Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 076001 – Published 11 August, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/1vnb-k7zd

Abstract

Twisted graphene provides a tunable platform for studying superconductivity in two dimensions. In the presence of electric currents and magnetic fields, vortices determine the phenomenological properties of the material. Here, we employ a gate-defined Josephson junction as a single-vortex sensor, enabling direct access to individual vortex dynamical events. Our measurements reveal that vortices enter the superconducting leads via classical thermal activation over energy barriers at elevated temperatures T>100  mK. At low temperatures T<90  mK, we observe macroscopic quantum tunneling through these barriers. The data are consistent with a sharp, first-order type quantum-to-classical transition. From our measurements, we extract vortex entry and exit energy barriers on the order of a few kelvins and estimate the barrier thickness to be approximately 100 nm.

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