Ultra-Strong Spin-Orbit Coupling and Topological Moir\'e Engineering in Twisted ZrS2 Bilayers

TL;DR

This paper predicts that twisted bilayers of 1T-ZrS2 can host tunable topological quantum phases with strong spin-orbit coupling, including quantum spin Hall and anomalous Hall states, due to moiré engineering.

Contribution

It introduces a new platform using twisted ZrS2 bilayers to realize and control topological phases driven by strong spin-orbit interactions and moiré patterns.

Findings

Emergent twist-controlled moiré Kagomé lattice in ZrS2 bilayers.

Prediction of a moiré quantum spin Hall insulator with flat bands.

Potential realization of fractional Chern insulators at fractional fillings.

Abstract

We predict that twisted bilayers of 1T-ZrS$_2$ realize a novel and tunable platform to engineer two-dimensional topological quantum phases dominated by strong spin-orbit interactions. At small twist angles, ZrS$_2$ heterostructures give rise to an emergent and twist-controlled moir\'e Kagom\'e lattice, combining geometric frustration and strong spin-orbit coupling to give rise to a moir\'e quantum spin Hall insulator with highly controllable and nearly-dispersionless bands. We devise a generic pseudo-spin theory for group-IV transition metal dichalcogenides that relies on the two-component character of the valence band maximum of the 1T structure at $\Gamma$, and study the emergence of a robust quantum anomalous Hall phase as well as possible fractional Chern insulating states from strong Coulomb repulsion at fractional fillings of the topological moir\'e Kagom\'e bands. Our results establish group-IV transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers as a novel moir\'e platform to realize strongly-correlated topological phases in a twist-tunable setting.