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Halbertal D, Turkel S, Ciccarino CJ, Profe JB, Finney N, Hsieh V, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Hone J, Dean C, Narang P, Pasupathy AN, Kennes DM, Basov DN. Unconventional non-local relaxation dynamics in a twisted trilayer graphene moiré superlattice. Nat Commun 2022; 13:7587. [PMID: 36481831 PMCID: PMC9731949 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-35213-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/29/2022] [Accepted: 11/18/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The electronic and structural properties of atomically thin materials can be controllably tuned by assembling them with an interlayer twist. During this process, constituent layers spontaneously rearrange themselves in search of a lowest energy configuration. Such relaxation phenomena can lead to unexpected and novel material properties. Here, we study twisted double trilayer graphene (TDTG) using nano-optical and tunneling spectroscopy tools. We reveal a surprising optical and electronic contrast, as well as a stacking energy imbalance emerging between the moiré domains. We attribute this contrast to an unconventional form of lattice relaxation in which an entire graphene layer spontaneously shifts position during assembly, resulting in domains of ABABAB and BCBACA stacking. We analyze the energetics of this transition and demonstrate that it is the result of a non-local relaxation process, in which an energy gain in one domain of the moiré lattice is paid for by a relaxation that occurs in the other.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dorri Halbertal
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA.
| | - Simon Turkel
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
- Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA
| | - Christopher J Ciccarino
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Jonas B Profe
- Institute for Theory of Statistical Physics, RWTH Aachen University, and JARA Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, 52062, Aachen, Germany
| | - Nathan Finney
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Valerie Hsieh
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Kenji Watanabe
- Research Center for Functional Materials, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, 305-0044, Japan
| | - Takashi Taniguchi
- International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, Tsukuba, 305-0044, Japan
| | - James Hone
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Cory Dean
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
| | - Prineha Narang
- Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 02138, USA
| | - Abhay N Pasupathy
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
- Condensed Matter Physics and Materials Science Division, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY, 11973, USA
| | - Dante M Kennes
- Institute for Theory of Statistical Physics, RWTH Aachen University, and JARA Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, 52062, Aachen, Germany
- Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, Center for Free Electron Laser Science, Hamburg, Germany
| | - D N Basov
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY, 10027, USA
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Kerelsky A, Rubio-Verdú C, Xian L, Kennes DM, Halbertal D, Finney N, Song L, Turkel S, Wang L, Watanabe K, Taniguchi T, Hone J, Dean C, Basov DN, Rubio A, Pasupathy AN. Moiréless correlations in ABCA graphene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2021; 118:e2017366118. [PMID: 33468646 PMCID: PMC7848726 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2017366118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 11.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Atomically thin van der Waals materials stacked with an interlayer twist have proven to be an excellent platform toward achieving gate-tunable correlated phenomena linked to the formation of flat electronic bands. In this work we demonstrate the formation of emergent correlated phases in multilayer rhombohedral graphene--a simple material that also exhibits a flat electronic band edge but without the need of having a moiré superlattice induced by twisted van der Waals layers. We show that two layers of bilayer graphene that are twisted by an arbitrary tiny angle host large (micrometer-scale) regions of uniform rhombohedral four-layer (ABCA) graphene that can be independently studied. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy reveals that ABCA graphene hosts an unprecedentedly sharp van Hove singularity of 3-5-meV half-width. We demonstrate that when this van Hove singularity straddles the Fermi level, a correlated many-body gap emerges with peak-to-peak value of 9.5 meV at charge neutrality. Mean-field theoretical calculations for model with short-ranged interactions indicate that two primary candidates for the appearance of this broken symmetry state are a charge-transfer excitonic insulator and a ferrimagnet. Finally, we show that ABCA graphene hosts surface topological helical edge states at natural interfaces with ABAB graphene which can be turned on and off with gate voltage, implying that small-angle twisted double-bilayer graphene is an ideal programmable topological quantum material.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Lede Xian
- Theory Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
- Frontier Research Center, Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, 523808 Dongguan, Guangdong, China
| | - Dante M Kennes
- Theory Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, 22761 Hamburg, Germany
- Institut für Theorie der Statistischen Physik, Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany
- Jülich Aachen Research Alliance-Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, 52056 Aachen, Germany
| | - Dorri Halbertal
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Nathan Finney
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Larry Song
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Simon Turkel
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Lei Wang
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Kenji Watanabe
- National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, 305-0044 Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Takashi Taniguchi
- National Institute for Materials Science, 1-1 Namiki, 305-0044 Tsukuba, Japan
| | - James Hone
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Cory Dean
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Dmitri N Basov
- Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027
| | - Angel Rubio
- Theory Department, Max Planck Institute for the Structure and Dynamics of Matter, 22761 Hamburg, Germany;
- Center for Computational Quantum Physics, The Flatiron Institute, New York, NY 10010
- Nano-Bio Spectroscopy Group, Departamento de Fisica de Materiales, Universidad del País Vasco, 20018 San Sebastian, Spain
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3
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Rhodes D, Chenet DA, Janicek BE, Nyby C, Lin Y, Jin W, Edelberg D, Mannebach E, Finney N, Antony A, Schiros T, Klarr T, Mazzoni A, Chin M, Chiu YC, Zheng W, Zhang QR, Ernst F, Dadap JI, Tong X, Ma J, Lou R, Wang S, Qian T, Ding H, Osgood RM, Paley DW, Lindenberg AM, Huang PY, Pasupathy AN, Dubey M, Hone J, Balicas L. Engineering the Structural and Electronic Phases of MoTe 2 through W Substitution. Nano Lett 2017; 17:1616-1622. [PMID: 28145719 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.6b04814] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/17/2023]
Abstract
MoTe2 is an exfoliable transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) that crystallizes in three symmetries: the semiconducting trigonal-prismatic 2H- or α-phase, the semimetallic and monoclinic 1T'- or β-phase, and the semimetallic orthorhombic γ-structure. The 2H-phase displays a band gap of ∼1 eV making it appealing for flexible and transparent optoelectronics. The γ-phase is predicted to possess unique topological properties that might lead to topologically protected nondissipative transport channels. Recently, it was argued that it is possible to locally induce phase-transformations in TMDs, through chemical doping, local heating, or electric-field to achieve ohmic contacts or to induce useful functionalities such as electronic phase-change memory elements. The combination of semiconducting and topological elements based upon the same compound might produce a new generation of high performance, low dissipation optoelectronic elements. Here, we show that it is possible to engineer the phases of MoTe2 through W substitution by unveiling the phase-diagram of the Mo1-xWxTe2 solid solution, which displays a semiconducting to semimetallic transition as a function of x. We find that a small critical W concentration xc ∼ 8% stabilizes the γ-phase at room temperature. This suggests that crystals with x close to xc might be particularly susceptible to phase transformations induced by an external perturbation, for example, an electric field. Photoemission spectroscopy, indicates that the γ-phase possesses a Fermi surface akin to that of WTe2.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Rhodes
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States
- Department of Physics, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
| | - D A Chenet
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027, United States
| | - B E Janicek
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - C Nyby
- Department of Chemistry, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305-4401, United States
| | | | | | | | - E Mannebach
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States
| | - N Finney
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027, United States
| | - A Antony
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027, United States
| | - T Schiros
- Materials Research Science and Engineering Center, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027 United States
- Department of Science and Mathematics, SUNY Fashion Institute of Technology , New York, New York 10001 United States
| | - T Klarr
- Sensors and Electronic Devices Directorate, United States Army Research Laboratory , Adelphi, Maryland 20723, United States
| | - A Mazzoni
- Sensors and Electronic Devices Directorate, United States Army Research Laboratory , Adelphi, Maryland 20723, United States
| | - M Chin
- Sensors and Electronic Devices Directorate, United States Army Research Laboratory , Adelphi, Maryland 20723, United States
| | - Y-C Chiu
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States
- Department of Physics, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
| | - W Zheng
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States
- Department of Physics, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
| | - Q R Zhang
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States
- Department of Physics, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32306, United States
| | - F Ernst
- Department of Applied Physics, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305-4090, United States
- Stanford PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , Menlo Park, California 94025, United States
| | - J I Dadap
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027, United States
| | - X Tong
- Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory , Upton, New York 11973-5000, United States
| | - J Ma
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China
| | - R Lou
- Department of Physics, Renmin University of China , Beijing 100872, China
| | - S Wang
- Department of Physics, Renmin University of China , Beijing 100872, China
| | - T Qian
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China
| | - H Ding
- Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, and Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences , Beijing 100190, China
| | - R M Osgood
- Department of Electrical Engineering, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027, United States
| | | | - A M Lindenberg
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Stanford University , Stanford, California 94305, United States
- Stanford PULSE Institute, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , Menlo Park, California 94025, United States
- Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory , Menlo Park, California 94025, United States
| | - P Y Huang
- Department of Mechanical Science and Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign , Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | | | - M Dubey
- Sensors and Electronic Devices Directorate, United States Army Research Laboratory , Adelphi, Maryland 20723, United States
| | - J Hone
- Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University , New York, New York 10027, United States
| | - L Balicas
- National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Florida State University , Tallahassee, Florida 32310, United States
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