Subscribe to the gold package and get unlimited access to Shamra Academy
Register a new userImaging moire deformation and dynamics in twisted bilayer graphene
144
0
0.0
(
0
)
Added by
Tobias Arie de Jong MSc
Publication date
2021
fields
Physics
and research's language is
English
Ask ChatGPT about the research
No Arabic abstract
In twisted bilayer graphene (TBG) a moire pattern forms that introduces a new length scale to the material. At the magic twist angle of 1.1{deg}, this causes a flat band to form, yielding emergent properties such as correlated insulator behavior and superconductivity [1-4]. In general, the moire structure in TBG varies spatially, influencing the local electronic properties [5-9] and hence the outcome of macroscopic charge transport experiments. In particular, to understand the wide variety observed in the phase diagrams and critical temperatures, a more detailed understanding of the local moire variation is needed [10]. Here, we study spatial and temporal variations of the moire pattern in TBG using aberration-corrected Low Energy Electron Microscopy (AC-LEEM) [11,12]. The spatial variation we find is lower than reported previously. At 500{deg}C, we observe thermal fluctuations of the moire lattice, corresponding to collective atomic displacements of less than 70pm on a time scale of seconds [13], homogenizing the sample. Despite previous concerns, no untwisting of the layers is found, even at temperatures as high as 600{deg}C [14,15]. From these observations, we conclude that thermal annealing can be used to decrease the local disorder in TBG samples. Finally, we report the existence of individual edge dislocations in the atomic and moire lattice. These topological defects break translation symmetry and are anticipated to exhibit unique local electronic properties.
rate research
Read More
Moire superlattices (MSL) formed in angle-aligned bilayers of van der Waals materials have become a promising platform to realize novel two-dimensional electronic states. Angle-aligned trilayer structures can form two sets of MSLs which could potentially interfere with each other. In this work, we directly image the moire patterns in both monolayer graphene aligned on hBN and twisted bilayer graphene aligned on hBN, using combined scanning microwave impedance microscopy and conductive atomic force microscopy. Correlation of the two techniques reveals the contrast mechanism for the achieved ultrahigh spatial resolution (<2 nm). We observe two sets of MSLs with different periodicities in the trilayer stack. The smaller MSL breaks the 6-fold rotational symmetry and exhibits abrupt discontinuities at the boundaries of the larger MSL. Using a rigid atomic-stacking model, we demonstrate that the hBN layer considerably modifies the MSL of twisted bilayer graphene. We further analyze its effect on the reciprocal space spectrum of the dual-moire system.
Tailoring electron transfer dynamics across solid-liquid interfaces is fundamental to the interconversion of electrical and chemical energy. Stacking atomically thin layers with a very small azimuthal misorientation to produce moire superlattices enables the controlled engineering of electronic band structures and the formation of extremely flat electronic bands. Here, we report a strong twist angle dependence of heterogeneous charge transfer kinetics at twisted bilayer graphene electrodes with the greatest enhancement observed near the magic angle (~1.1 degrees). This effect is driven by the angle-dependent tuning of moire-derived flat bands that modulate electron transfer processes with the solution-phase redox couple. Combined experimental and computational analysis reveals that the variation in electrochemical activity with moire angle is controlled by atomic reconstruction of the moire superlattice at twist angles <2 degrees, and topological defect AA stacking regions produce a large anomalous local electrochemical enhancement that cannot be accounted for by the elevated local density of states alone. Our results introduce moire flat band materials as a distinctively tunable paradigm for mediating electrochemical transformations.
Strong electron correlation and spin-orbit coupling (SOC) provide two non-trivial threads to condensed matter physics. When these two strands of physics come together, a plethora of quantum phenomena with novel topological order have been predicted to emerge in the correlated SOC regime. In this work, we examine the combined influence of electron correlation and SOC on a 2-dimensional (2D) electronic system at the atomic interface between magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) and a tungsten diselenide (WSe) crystal. In such a structure, strong electron correlation within the moire flatband stabilizes correlated insulating states at both quarter and half-filling, whereas SOC transforms these Mott-like insulators into ferromagnets, evidenced by robust anomalous Hall effect with hysteretic switching behavior. The coupling between spin and valley degrees of freedom is unambiguously demonstrated as the magnetic order is shown to be tunable with an in-plane magnetic field, or a perpendicular electric field. In addition, we examine the influence of SOC on the isospin order and stability of superconductivity. Our findings establish an efficient experimental knob to engineer topological properties of moire bands in twisted bilayer graphene and related systems.
Moire superlattices of van der Waals heterostructures provide a powerful new way to engineer the electronic structures of two-dimensional (2D) materials. Many novel quantum phenomena have emerged in different moire heterostructures, such as correlated insulators, superconductors, and Chern insulators in graphene systems and moire excitons in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) systems. Twisted phosphorene offers another attractive system to explore moire physics because phosphorene features an anisotropic rectangular lattice, different from the isotropic hexagonal lattice in graphene and TMDC. Here we report emerging anisotropic moire optical transitions in twisted monolayer/bilayer phosphorene. The optical resonances in phosphorene moire superlattice depend sensitively on the twist angle between the monolayer and bilayer. Surprisingly, even for a twist angle as large as 19{deg} the moire heterostructure exhibits optical resonances completely different from those in the constituent monolayer and bilayer phosphorene. The new moire optical resonances exhibit strong linear polarization, with the principal axis lying close to but different from the optical axis of bilayer phosphorene. Our ab initio calculations reveal that the {Gamma}-point direct bandgap and the rectangular lattice of phosphorene, unlike the K-point bandgap of hexagonal lattice in graphene and TMDC, give rise to the remarkably strong moire physics in large-twist-angle phosphorene heterostructures. Our results highlight the exciting opportunities to explore moire physics in phosphorene and other van der Waals heterostructures with different lattice configurations.
We introduce a new method to continuously map inhomogeneities of a moire lattice and apply it to large-area topographic images we measure on open-device twisted bilayer graphene (TBG). We show that the variation in the twist angle of a TBG device, which is frequently conjectured to be the reason for differences between devices with a supposed similar twist angle, is about 0.08{deg} around the average of 2.02{deg} over areas of several hundred nm, comparable to devices encapsulated between hBN slabs. We distinguish between an effective twist angle and local anisotropy and relate the latter to heterostrain. Our results imply that for our devices, twist angle heterogeneity has a roughly equal effect to the electronic structure as local strain. The method introduced here is applicable to results from different imaging techniques, and on different moire materials.
Log in to be able to interact and post comments
comments
Fetching comments
Sign in to be able to follow your search criteria
