In situ twistronics of van der Waals heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper introduces an experimental method for in situ dynamical rotation of 2D materials within van der Waals heterostructures, enabling real-time tuning of their optical, mechanical, and electronic properties.

Contribution

It presents a novel technique for dynamically manipulating twist angles in van der Waals heterostructures, allowing for adjustable material properties in a single device.

Findings

Achieved in situ dynamical rotation of 2D materials.

Demonstrated tunable optical, mechanical, and electronic properties.

Fabricated heterostructures with perfect alignment of graphene and hBN layers.

Abstract

In van der Waals heterostructures, electronic bands of two-dimensional (2D) materials, their nontrivial topology, and electron-electron interactions can be dramatically changed by a moire pattern induced by twist angles between different layers. Such process is referred to as twistronics, where the tuning of twist angle can be realized through mechanical manipulation of 2D materials. Here we demonstrate an experimental technique that can achieve in situ dynamical rotation and manipulation of 2D materials in van der Waals heterostructures. Using this technique we fabricated heterostructures where graphene is perfectly aligned with both top and bottom encapsulating layers of hexagonal boron nitride. Our technique enables twisted 2D material systems in one single stack with dynamically tunable optical, mechanical, and electronic properties.