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Valley-Coherent Quantum Anomalous Hall State in AB-Stacked MoTe 2 / W S e 2 Bilayers

Journal Article · · Physical Review. X

Moiré materials provide fertile ground for the correlated and topological quantum phenomena. Among them, the quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) effect, in which the Hall resistance is quantized even under zero magnetic field, is a direct manifestation of the intrinsic topological properties of a material and an appealing attribute for low-power electronics applications. The QAH effect has been observed in both graphene and transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) moiré materials. It is thought to arise from the interaction-driven valley polarization of the narrow moiré bands. Here, we show that the newly discovered QAH state in AB-stacked MoTe 2 / W S e 2 moiré bilayers is not valley polarized but valley coherent. The layer- and helicity-resolved optical spectroscopy measurement reveals that the QAH ground state possesses spontaneous spin (valley) polarization aligned (antialigned) in two TMD layers. In addition, saturation of the out-of-plane spin polarization in both layers occurs only under high magnetic fields, supporting a canted spin texture. Our results call for a new mechanism for the QAH effect and highlight the potential of TMD moiré materials with strong electronic correlations and spin-orbit interactions for exotic topological states.

Published by the American Physical Society 2024
Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation; National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; SC0019481
OSTI ID:
2280710
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 2323395
Journal Information:
Physical Review. X, Journal Name: Physical Review. X Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 14; ISSN PRXHAE; ISSN 2160-3308
Publisher:
American Physical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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