Emergence of Moiré Dirac Fermions at the Interface of Topological and 2D Magnetic Insulators

Klimovskikh, Ilya I.; Hadjadj, Sebastien E.; Thakur, Amitayush; Saunot, Aymeric; Rogero, Celia; Tallarida, Massimo; Dai, Ji; Trontl, Vesna Mikšić; Weber, Andrew P.; Gu, Genda D.; Lobo-Checa, Jorge; Ilyn, Maxim; Valla, Tonica

doi:10.1021/acsnano.5c10193

Emergence of Moiré Dirac Fermions at the Interface of Topological and 2D Magnetic Insulators

Journal Article · Fri Oct 10 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · ACS Nano

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.5c10193· OSTI ID:3000220

^[1]; ^[2]; Thakur, Amitayush ^[3]; Saunot, Aymeric ^[3]; ^[4]; Tallarida, Massimo ^[5]; Dai, Ji ^[5]; ^[6]; Weber, Andrew P. ^[7]; Gu, Genda D. ^[8]; ^[9]; ^[2]; ^[10]

Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), San Sebastian (Spain)
Centro de Fisica de Materials (CSIC-UPV/EHU), San Sebastian (Spain)
Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), San Sebastian (Spain); Univ. of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), San Sebastian (Spain)
Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), San Sebastian (Spain); Centro de Fisica de Materials (CSIC-UPV/EHU), San Sebastian (Spain)
ALBA Synchrotron Light Source, Barcelona (Spain)
Inst. of Physics (Croatia)
Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), San Sebastian (Spain); Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) (Spain)
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Univ. of Zaragoza (Spain)
Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), San Sebastian (Spain); Inst. of Physics (Croatia)

Dirac Fermions on the surface of the topological insulator are spin-momentum locked and topologically protected, making them interesting for spintronics and quantum computing applications. When in proximity to magnetism and superconductivity, these electronic states could result in quantum anomalous Hall effect and Majorana Fermions, respectively. An even more dramatic enrichment of the topological insulators’ physics is expected for moiré superlattices, where, analogously to the twisted graphene layers, electronic correlations could be strongly enhanced, a task previously notoriously difficult to achieve in topological matter. Until now, the experimental confirmation of such moiré properties has remained elusive. Here, we grow the two-dimensional van der Waals magnetic insulators FeX₂ (where X = Cl or Br) on top of the topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ and establish a moiré superlattice formation at the interface. By means of scanning tunneling microscopy and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy, we investigate the electronic properties of the formed moiré superlattice and demonstrate its tunability via the film choice. We reveal replicated Dirac cones and focus on their intersections, which, in the case of FeBr₂/Bi₂Se₃, occur below the Fermi level. We identify the signatures of small gaps at the intersections around the M̅_i points that we attribute to the moiré interaction. These findings point to the specific type of magnetic moiré potential that breaks the time-reversal symmetry at these points but not at the $$\barΓ$$ point. Our observations provide an intriguing scenario of correlated topological phases induced by moiré superlattice that may result in topological superconductivity, high Chern number phases, and exotic noncollinear magnetic textures.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

OSTI ID:: 3000220

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2999804

Report Number(s):: BNL--229081-2025-JAAM

Journal Information:: ACS Nano, Journal Name: ACS Nano Journal Issue: 41 Vol. 19; ISSN 1936-086X; ISSN 1936-0851

Publisher:: American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (53)

Ferromagnetic Order in 2D Layers of Transition Metal Dichlorides Aguirre, Andrea; Pinar Solé, Andrés; Soler Polo, Diego Advanced Materials, Vol. 36, Issue 28 https://doi.org/10.1002/adma.202402723	journal	May 2024
Moiré-pattern-modulated electronic structures in Sb2Te3/graphene heterostructure Yin, Yin; Wang, Guanyong; Liu, Chen Nano Research, Vol. 15, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-021-3613-7	journal	July 2021
Reconstructed Fermi surface in graphene on Ir(111) by Gd-Ir surface alloying Klimovskikh, I. I.; Krivenkov, M.; Varykhalov, A. Carbon, Vol. 147 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2019.02.037	journal	June 2019
Epitaxial Monolayers of the Magnetic 2D Semiconductor FeBr₂ Grown on Au(111) Hadjadj, Sebastien E.; González-Orellana, Carmen; Lawrence, James Chemistry of Materials, Vol. 35, Issue 23 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemmater.3c00978	journal	November 2023
Epitaxial Growth and Electronic Properties of Single- and Few-Layer FeBr₂ on Bi(111) Terakawa, Shigemi; Hatta, Shinichiro; Okuyama, Hiroshi The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 127, Issue 30 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcc.3c02188	journal	July 2023
Molecular Order Induced Charge Transfer in a C₆₀-Topological Insulator Moiré Heterostructure Pandeya, Ram Prakash; Shchukin, Konstantin P.; Falke, Yannic Nano Letters, Vol. 25, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c06294	journal	January 2025
van der Waals Epitaxial Growth of Atomically Thin Bi ₂ Se ₃ and Thickness-Dependent Topological Phase Transition Xu, Shuigang; Han, Yu; Chen, Xiaolong Nano Letters, Vol. 15, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00247	journal	March 2015
Two-Dimensional Intrinsic Half-Metals With Large Spin Gaps Ashton, Michael; Gluhovic, Dorde; Sinnott, Susan B. Nano Letters, Vol. 17, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b01367	journal	August 2017
Evidence of Ferromagnetism and Ultrafast Dynamics of Demagnetization in an Epitaxial FeCl₂ Monolayer Zhou, Xuhan; Jiang, Tianran; Tao, Ye ACS Nano, Vol. 18, Issue 16 https://doi.org/10.1021/acsnano.4c01436	journal	April 2024
Correlated insulator behaviour at half-filling in magic-angle graphene superlattices Cao, Yuan; Fatemi, Valla; Demir, Ahmet Nature, Vol. 556, Issue 7699 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature26154	journal	March 2018
Unconventional superconductivity in magic-angle graphene superlattices Cao, Yuan; Fatemi, Valla; Fang, Shiang Nature, Vol. 556, Issue 7699 https://doi.org/10.1038/nature26160	journal	March 2018
Observation of a large-gap topological-insulator class with a single Dirac cone on the surface Xia, Y.; Qian, D.; Hsieh, D. Nature Physics, Vol. 5, Issue 6, p. 398-402 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys1274	journal	May 2009
Tuning Dirac states by strain in the topological insulator Bi2Se3 Liu, Y.; Li, Y. Y.; Rajput, S. Nature Physics, Vol. 10, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2898	journal	March 2014
Topological minibands and interaction driven quantum anomalous Hall state in topological insulator based moiré heterostructures Yang, Kaijie; Xu, Zian; Feng, Yanjie Nature Communications, Vol. 15, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-46717-7	journal	March 2024
ARPES detection of superconducting gap sign in unconventional superconductors Gao, Qiang; Bok, Jin Mo; Ai, Ping Nature Communications, Vol. 15, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-48610-9	journal	May 2024
Semiconductor moiré materials Mak, Kin Fai; Shan, Jie Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 17, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01165-6	journal	July 2022
Observation of flat bands in twisted bilayer graphene Lisi, Simone; Lu, Xiaobo; Benschop, Tjerk Nature Physics, Vol. 17, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-01041-x	journal	September 2020
Visualization of the flat electronic band in twisted bilayer graphene near the magic angle twist Utama, M. Iqbal Bakti; Koch, Roland J.; Lee, Kyunghoon Nature Physics https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-020-0974-x	journal	July 2020
Evidence of non-collinear spin texture in magnetic moiré superlattices Xie, Hongchao; Luo, Xiangpeng; Ye, Zhipeng Nature Physics, Vol. 19, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02061-z	journal	May 2023
Simulation of Hubbard model physics in WSe2/WS2 moiré superlattices Tang, Yanhao; Li, Lizhong; Li, Tingxin Nature, Vol. 579, Issue 7799 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2085-3	journal	March 2020
Mott and generalized Wigner crystal states in WSe2/WS2 moiré superlattices Regan, Emma C.; Wang, Danqing; Jin, Chenhao Nature, Vol. 579, Issue 7799 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2092-4	journal	March 2020
Electrically tunable moiré magnetism in twisted double bilayers of chromium triiodide Cheng, Guanghui; Rahman, Mohammad Mushfiqur; Allcca, Andres Llacsahuanga Nature Electronics, Vol. 6, Issue 6 https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-023-00978-0	journal	June 2023
Topological insulator Bi₂Se₃ thin films grown on double-layer graphene by molecular beam epitaxy Song, Can-Li; Wang, Yi-Lin; Jiang, Ye-Ping Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 97, Issue 14, Article No. 143118 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.3494595	journal	October 2010
Moire bands in twisted double-layer graphene Bistritzer, R.; MacDonald, A. H. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 108, Issue 30 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1108174108	journal	July 2011
Scanning tunneling microscopy of interface properties of Bi ₂ Se ₃ on FeSe Wang, Yilin; Jiang, Yeping; Chen, Mu Journal of Physics: Condensed Matter, Vol. 24, Issue 47 https://doi.org/10.1088/0953-8984/24/47/475604	journal	October 2012
Magnetic Properties of Co Cl 2 and Ni Cl 2 Lines, M. E. Physical Review, Vol. 131, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRev.131.546	journal	July 1963
Reconstruction of the Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 + δ Fermi surface Valla, T.; Pletikosić, I.; Drozdov, I. K. Physical Review B, Vol. 100, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.100.241112	journal	December 2019
Moiré superlattice on the surface of a topological insulator Cano, Jennifer; Fang, Shiang; Pixley, J. H. Physical Review B, Vol. 103, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.103.155157	journal	April 2021
Magnetic moiré surface states and flat Chern bands in topological insulators Liu, Zhaochen; Wang, Huan; Wang, Jing Physical Review B, Vol. 106, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.035114	journal	July 2022
Magic angle conditions for twisted three-dimensional topological insulators Dunbrack, Aaron; Cano, Jennifer Physical Review B, Vol. 106, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.075142	journal	August 2022
Designer meron lattice on the surface of a topological insulator Guerci, Daniele; Wang, Jie; Pixley, J. H. Physical Review B, Vol. 106, Issue 24 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.106.245417	journal	December 2022
Electrically tunable high-Chern-number quasiflat bands in twisted antiferromagnetic topological insulators Wang, Huaiqiang; Fan, Yiliang; Zhang, Haijun Physical Review B, Vol. 110, Issue 8 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.110.085135	journal	August 2024
Chern bands with higher-order Van Hove singularities on topological moiré surface states Pullasseri, Lakshmi; Santos, Luiz H. Physical Review B, Vol. 110, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.110.115125	journal	September 2024
Phenomenological models for the gap anisotropy of Bi 2 Sr 2 CaCu 2 O 8 as measured by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy Norman, M. R.; Randeria, M.; Ding, H. Physical Review B, Vol. 52, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.52.615	journal	July 1995
Experimental and computational insight into the properties of the lattice-mismatched structures: Monolayers of h -BN and graphene on Ir(111) Usachov, D.; Fedorov, A.; Vilkov, O. Physical Review B, Vol. 86, Issue 15 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.86.155151	journal	October 2012
Electronic Structure of the Topological Insulator Bi 2 Se 3 Using Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy: Evidence for a Nearly Full Surface Spin Polarization Pan, Z. -H.; Vescovo, E.; Fedorov, A. V. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 25 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.257004	journal	June 2011
Reactive Chemical Doping of the Bi 2 Se 3 Topological Insulator Benia, Hadj M.; Lin, Chengtian; Kern, Klaus Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.177602	journal	October 2011
Rashba Spin-Splitting Control at the Surface of the Topological Insulator Bi 2 Se 3 Zhu, Z. -H.; Levy, G.; Ludbrook, B. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 107, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.186405	journal	October 2011
Photoemission Spectroscopy of Magnetic and Nonmagnetic Impurities on the Surface of the Bi 2 Se 3 Topological Insulator Valla, T.; Pan, Z. -H.; Gardner, D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.117601	journal	March 2012
Measurement of an Exceptionally Weak Electron-Phonon Coupling on the Surface of the Topological Insulator Bi 2 Se 3 Using Angle-Resolved Photoemission Spectroscopy Pan, Z. -H.; Fedorov, A. V.; Gardner, D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 18 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.187001	journal	May 2012
Band Engineering of Dirac Surface States in Topological-Insulator-Based van der Waals Heterostructures Chang, Cui-Zu; Tang, Peizhe; Feng, Xiao Physical Review Letters, Vol. 115, Issue 13 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.136801	journal	September 2015
Hubbard Model Physics in Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Moiré Bands Wu, Fengcheng; Lovorn, Timothy; Tutuc, Emanuel Physical Review Letters, Vol. 121, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.121.026402	journal	July 2018
Flat Chern Band from Twisted Bilayer MnBi 2 Te 4 Lian, Biao; Liu, Zhaochen; Zhang, Yuanbo Physical Review Letters, Vol. 124, Issue 12 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.126402	journal	March 2020
Topological Insulators in Three Dimensions Fu, Liang; Kane, C. L.; Mele, E. J. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 98, Issue 10, Article No. 106803 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.98.106803	journal	March 2007
Electronic structure and magnetism of transition metal dihalides: Bulk to monolayer Botana, A. S.; Norman, M. R. Physical Review Materials, Vol. 3, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevMaterials.3.044001	journal	April 2019
Twisted bilayers of thin film magnetic topological insulators Chaudhary, Gaurav; Burkov, Anton A.; Heinonen, Olle G. Physical Review Research, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevResearch.4.043034	journal	October 2022
Moiré Surface States and Enhanced Superconductivity in Topological Insulators Wang, Taige; Yuan, Noah F. Q.; Fu, Liang Physical Review X, Vol. 11, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.11.021024	journal	April 2021
Interlayer couplings, Moiré patterns, and 2D electronic superlattices in MoS ₂ /WSe ₂ hetero-bilayers Zhang, Chendong; Chuu, Chih-Piao; Ren, Xibiao Science Advances, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601459	journal	January 2017
Tunable and laser-reconfigurable 2D heterocrystals obtained by epitaxial stacking of crystallographically incommensurate Bi ₂ Se ₃ and MoS ₂ atomic layers Vargas, Anthony; Liu, Fangze; Lane, Christopher Science Advances, Vol. 3, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.1601741	journal	July 2017
Tuning superconductivity in twisted bilayer graphene Yankowitz, Matthew; Chen, Shaowen; Polshyn, Hryhoriy Science, Vol. 363, Issue 6431 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aav1910	journal	January 2019
Emergent ferromagnetism near three-quarters filling in twisted bilayer graphene Sharpe, Aaron L.; Fox, Eli J.; Barnard, Arthur W. Science, Vol. 365, Issue 6453 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aaw3780	journal	July 2019
Intrinsic quantized anomalous Hall effect in a moiré heterostructure Serlin, M.; Tschirhart, C. L.; Polshyn, H. Science, Vol. 367, Issue 6480 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aay5533	journal	December 2019
Direct visualization of magnetic domains and moiré magnetism in twisted 2D magnets Song, Tiancheng; Sun, Qi-Chao; Anderson, Eric Science, Vol. 374, Issue 6571 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abj7478	journal	November 2021

Similar Records

Tunable correlated Chern insulator and ferromagnetism in a moiré superlattice

Journal Article · Tue Mar 03 19:00:00 EST 2020 · Nature (London) · OSTI ID:1647087

Related Subjects

2D magnets
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
ARPES
Dirac cone
STM
moiré materials
topological insulators
transition metal dihalides

Emergence of Moiré Dirac Fermions at the Interface of Topological and 2D Magnetic Insulators

Citation Formats

References (53)

Similar Records

Related Subjects