“The magic angle is like a philosopher’s stone, but in reverse: it allows us to turn graphene into any other type of material”

Awarded the 18th BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences, Pablo Jarillo-Herrero explains the discovery of the so-called “magic angle” in graphene. He discusses how stacking two layers of this material with a slight rotation gives rise to entirely new electronic behaviors, such as the emergence of insulating and superconducting states. Throughout the conversation, he reviews the major advances achieved since this experimental verification and describes the potential of twistronics, an emerging field that enables the design of materials with tailored properties and opens up new possibilities for the development of advanced technologies.

The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences was awarded in its 18th edition to Allan H. MacDonald and Pablo Jarillo-Herrero for their pioneering work in the theoretical foundation and discovery of strongly correlated electrons in stacked and rotated monolayer materials.