In strongly correlated electron systems, Coulomb interactions often manifest through the spontaneous reduction of rotational symmetry in emergent electronic phases. Understanding how such symmetry breaking intertwines with other collective phenomena—and how it shapes experimental observables—remains a central focus of quantum materials research.
In this talk, I will discuss the emergence of broken rotational symmetry in rhombohedral hexalayer graphene, revealed through angle-resolved transport measurements that uncover pronounced transport anisotropy. Most intriguingly, this extreme anisotropy plays a decisive role in defining the nature of an unconventional superconducting phase that emerges at low temperature. Our findings shed new insight into how rotational symmetry breaking reshapes superconducting behavior in two-dimensional quantum materials—and challenging conventional paradigms of unconventional superconductivity.
Jia Leo Li is a condensed matter experimentalist specializing in low-temperature electronic systems in low-dimensional materials. His research focuses on emergent quantum phenomena in 2D materials and their van der Waals structures. Before joining UT Austin, he was an associate professor of physics at Brown University. His work has been recognized with a Sloan Research Fellowship and a National Science Foundation CAREER Award. Li received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University and conducted postdoctoral research at Columbia University.