# Phonons in Twisted Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Bilayers ("Twistnonics"): Ultra-soft Phasons, and a transition from Superlubric to Pinned Phase

## TL;DR

This paper investigates how twisting bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides affects phonon modes, revealing ultra-soft phason modes, twist-dependent structural relaxation, and a transition from superlubric to pinned phases, with implications for 2D material engineering.

## Contribution

It introduces the concept of 'Twistnonics' and demonstrates the existence of ultra-soft phason modes and twist-dependent phase transitions in TMD bilayers through atomistic simulations.

## Key findings

- Ultra-soft phason modes are highly sensitive to twist angle.
- Structural relaxation varies significantly as twist approaches 0° or 60°.
- A transition from superlubric to pinned phase depends on twist angle.

## Abstract

The tunability of the interlayer coupling by twisting one layer with respect to another layer of two-dimensional materials provides a unique way to manipulate the phonons and related properties. We refer to this engineering of phononic properties as "Twistnonics". We study the effects of twisting on low-frequency shear (SM) and layer breathing (LBM) modes in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) bilayer using atomistic classical simulations. We show that these low-frequency modes are extremely sensitive to twist and can be used to infer the twist angle. We find unique "ultra-soft" phason modes (frequency $\lesssim 1\ \mathrm{cm^{-1}}$, comparable to acoustic modes) for any non-zero twist, corresponding to an \textit{effective} translation of the moir{\'e} lattice by relative displacement of the constituent layers in a non-trivial way. Unlike the acoustic modes, the velocity of the phason modes is quite sensitive to twist angle. As twist angle decreases, ($\theta \lesssim 3^{\circ},\ \gtrsim 57^{\circ}$) the ultra-soft modes represent the acoustic modes of the "emergent" soft moir{\'e} scale lattice. Also, new high-frequency SMs appear, identical to those in stable bilayer TMD ($\theta = 0\degree/60\degree$), due to the overwhelming growth of stable stacking regions in relaxed twisted structures. Furthermore, we find remarkably different structural relaxation as $\theta \to 0^{\circ}$, $\to 60^{\circ}$ due to sub-lattice symmetry breaking. Our study reveals the possibility of an intriguing $\theta$ dependent superlubric to pinning behavior and of the existence of ultra-soft modes in \textit{all} two-dimensional (2D) materials.