skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.


This content will become publicly available on July 1, 2026

Title: Advanced Characterization of the Spatial Variation of Moiré Heterostructures and Moiré Excitons
Abstract In this short review, an overview of recent progress in deploying advanced characterization techniques is provided to understand the effects of spatial variation and inhomogeneities in moiré heterostructures over multiple length scales. Particular emphasis is placed on correlating the impact of twist angle misalignment, nano‐scale disorder, and atomic relaxation on the moiré potential and its collective excitations, particularly moiré excitons. Finally, future technological applications leveraging moiré excitons are discussed.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
2329067
PAR ID:
10638926
Author(s) / Creator(s):
 ;  ;  ;  
Publisher / Repository:
Wiley
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Small
Volume:
21
Issue:
28
ISSN:
1613-6810
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. Abstract Moiré superlattices of semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides enable unprecedented spatial control of electron wavefunctions, leading to emerging quantum states. The breaking of translational symmetry further introduces a new degree of freedom: high symmetry moiré sites of energy minima behaving as spatially separated quantum dots. We demonstrate the superposition between two moiré sites by constructing a trilayer WSe2/monolayer WS2moiré heterojunction. The two moiré sites in the first layer WSe2interfacing WS2allow the formation of two different interlayer excitons, with the hole residing in either moiré site of the first layer WSe2and the electron in the third layer WSe2. An electric field can drive the hybridization of either of the interlayer excitons with the intralayer excitons in the third WSe2layer, realizing the continuous tuning of interlayer exciton hopping between two moiré sites and a superposition of the two interlayer excitons, distinctively different from the natural trilayer WSe2
    more » « less
  2. Abstract Moiré lattices formed in twisted van der Waals bilayers provide a unique, tunable platform to realize coupled electron or exciton lattices unavailable before. While twist angle between the bilayer has been shown to be a critical parameter in engineering the moiré potential and enabling novel phenomena in electronic moiré systems, a systematic experimental study as a function of twist angle is still missing. Here we show that not only are moiré excitons robust in bilayers of even large twist angles, but also properties of the moiré excitons are dependant on, and controllable by, the moiré reciprocal lattice period via twist-angle tuning. From the twist-angle dependence, we furthermore obtain the effective mass of the interlayer excitons and the electron inter-layer tunneling strength, which are difficult to measure experimentally otherwise. These findings pave the way for understanding and engineering rich moiré-lattice induced phenomena in angle-twisted semiconductor van der Waals heterostructures. 
    more » « less
  3. Moiré excitons and moiré magnetism are essential to semiconducting van der Waals magnets. In this work, we perform a comprehensive first-principles study to elucidate the interplay of electronic excitation and magnetism in twisted magnetic CrSBr bilayers. We predict a twist-induced quantum phase transition for interlayer magnetic coupling and estimate the critical twist angle below which moiré magnetism with mixed ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic domains could emerge. Localized one-dimensional moiré excitons are stable if the interlayer coupling is ferromagnetic and become unstable if the coupling turns to antiferromagnetic. Exciton energy modulation by magnons is estimated and dependence of exciton oscillator strength on the twist angle and interlayer coupling is analyzed. An orthogonally twisted bilayer is revealed to exhibit layer-dependent, anisotropic optical transitions. Electric field is shown to induce net magnetic moments in moiré excitons, endowing them with exceedingly long lifetimes. Our work lays the foundation for using magnetic moiré bilayers in spintronic, optoelectronic, and quantum information applications. 
    more » « less
  4. Abstract Moiré coupling in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) superlattices introduces flat minibands that enable strong electronic correlation and fascinating correlated states, and it also modifies the strong Coulomb-interaction-driven excitons and gives rise to moiré excitons. Here, we introduce the layer degree of freedom to the WSe2/WS2moiré superlattice by changing WSe2from monolayer to bilayer and trilayer. We observe systematic changes of optical spectra of the moiré excitons, which directly confirm the highly interfacial nature of moiré coupling at the WSe2/WS2interface. In addition, the energy resonances of moiré excitons are strongly modified, with their separation significantly increased in multilayer WSe2/monolayer WS2moiré superlattice. The additional WSe2layers also modulate the strong electronic correlation strength, evidenced by the reduced Mott transition temperature with added WSe2layer(s). The layer dependence of both moiré excitons and correlated electronic states can be well described by our theoretical model. Our study presents a new method to tune the strong electronic correlation and moiré exciton bands in the TMDCs moiré superlattices, ushering in an exciting platform to engineer quantum phenomena stemming from strong correlation and Coulomb interaction. 
    more » « less
  5. We develop a systematic theory for excitons subject to Fermi-Hubbard physics in moiré twisted transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Specifically, we consider excitons from two moiré bands with a Mott-insulating valence band sustaining 120 spin order. These “Mott-moiré excitons,” which are achievable in twisted TMD heterobilayers, are bound states of a magnetic polaron in the valence band and a free electron in the conduction band. We find significantly narrower exciton bandwidths in the presence of Hubbard physics, serving as a potential experimental signature of strong correlations. We also demonstrate the high tunability of Mott-moiré excitons through the dependence of their binding energies, diameters, and bandwidths on the moiré period. In addition, we study bound states between charges outside of the strongly correlated moiré band and find that these as well exhibit signatures of spin correlation. Our work provides guidelines for future exploration of strongly correlated excitons in triangular Hubbard systems such as twisted TMD heterobilayers. 
    more » « less