Ultra-strong spin-orbit coupling and topological moiré engineering in twisted ZrS2 bilayers
Abstract
We predict that twisted bilayers of 1T-ZrS2 realize a novel and tunable platform to engineer two-dimensional topological quantum phases dominated by strong spin-orbit interactions. At small twist angles, ZrS2 heterostructures give rise to an emergent and twist-controlled moiré Kagome lattice, combining geometric frustration and strong spin-orbit coupling to give rise to a moiré 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 Γ, 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 moiré Kagome bands. Our results establish group-IV transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers as a novel moiré platform to realize strongly-correlated topological phases in a twist-tunable setting.
- Publication:
-
Nature Communications
- Pub Date:
- August 2022
- DOI:
- 10.1038/s41467-022-31604-w
- arXiv:
- arXiv:2110.13370
- Bibcode:
- 2022NatCo..13.4915C
- Keywords:
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- Condensed Matter - Strongly Correlated Electrons;
- Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics;
- Condensed Matter - Materials Science
- E-Print:
- 9 pages, 4 figures