CM In the literature: open

Carbon isotope effect on the magic-angle superconducting transition temperature

In plain words

Replacing carbon-12 by heavier carbon-13 slows the lattice vibrations, and the resulting shift of the superconducting transition temperature, compared with what each pairing theory predicts, would test whether phonons bind the pairs.

Precise statement

For magic-angle devices built from 13C-enriched graphene, measure the isotope coefficient $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}} = -d \ln T_c / d \ln M$ at fixed twist angle, filling and heterostrain, and compare it with the value each candidate mechanism predicts. For pairing by K-point optical phonons ($\hbar \omega \sim 0.15\,\mathrm{eV}$ >> flat-band width $W \sim 10\,\mathrm{meV}$) the anti-adiabatic regime can give alpha_iso well below the BCS value 0.5; a purely electronic mechanism gives $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}} \sim 0$. Since $\ln(13/12) = 0.08$, the answer is $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}}$ with an error bar small enough to separate the computed predictions, which requires a statistical ensemble of devices.

What would settle it

Transport $T_c$ measured on ensembles of 12C and 13C magic-angle devices with matched angle and strain and quantified sample-to-sample scatter, compared with mechanism-specific calculations of $\alpha_{\mathrm{iso}}$ in the flat-band regime.

Status in the literature

Unverified note

No measurement on isotope-enriched magic-angle devices is known to this survey as of 2026.

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