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Title: Tuning moiré excitons and correlated electronic states through layer degree of freedom

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
ORCiD logo [1];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [3];  [2];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [6]; ORCiD logo [5]; ORCiD logo [7]; ORCiD logo [4]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [2]
  1. University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu (China); Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (United States)
  2. Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY (United States)
  3. University of California, Riverside, CA (United States)
  4. University of Texas at Dallas, TX (United States)
  5. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ (United States)
  6. National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba (Japan)
  7. University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu (China)

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/WS2 moiré superlattice by changing WSe2 from 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/WS2 interface. In addition, the energy resonances of moiré excitons are strongly modified, with their separation significantly increased in multilayer WSe2/monolayer WS2 moiré superlattice. The additional WSe2 layers also modulate the strong electronic correlation strength, evidenced by the reduced Mott transition temperature with added WSe2 layer(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.

Research Organization:
Florida State Univ., Tallahassee, FL (United States); Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC); US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); NYSTAR; National Science Foundation (NSF); Army Research Office (ARO); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS)
Grant/Contract Number:
FG02-07ER46451; SC0020653; FA9550-20-1-0179; C150117; DMR-1945420; DMR-2104902; FA9550-18-1-0312; DMR- 2104805; PHY-2110212; PHY-1806227; W911NF17-1-0128; FA9550-20-1-0220; 62004032; DMR-1904716; DMR-1838443; CMMI-1933214; JPMXP0112101001; DMR-1644779
OSTI ID:
1904628
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Vol. 13, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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