Topological Kondo semimetals emulated in heterobilayer transition metal dichalcogenides

The moiré structure of AB-stacked MoTe_{2}/WSe_{2} represents a natural platform to realize Kondo lattice models due to the discrepancy of the bandwidth between the individual layers. Here, we study this system at the commensurate filling of ν_{tot}=2. Our focus is on the 1+1 filling setting of ν_{M...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Fang Xie, Lei Chen, Yuan Fang, Qimiao Si
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: American Physical Society 2025-07-01
Series:Physical Review Research
Online Access:http://doi.org/10.1103/fwbg-kdb9
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The moiré structure of AB-stacked MoTe_{2}/WSe_{2} represents a natural platform to realize Kondo lattice models due to the discrepancy of the bandwidth between the individual layers. Here, we study this system at the commensurate filling of ν_{tot}=2. Our focus is on the 1+1 filling setting of ν_{Mo}=ν_{W}=1, which enables a Kondo lattice description. We find a Kondo semimetal due to the sizable intraorbital hopping among the electrons in the MoTe_{2} layer. The Kondo-driven (emergent) flat band is naturally pinned to the Fermi energy. When combined with the inherent topology of the electronic structure, a topological Kondo semimetal phase ensues. We calculate the valley Hall response, and due to the breaking of inversion symmetry we also identify a spontaneous Hall effect. There is a Berry curvature dodecapole that leads to a fourth-order spontaneous Hall effect in the perturbative regime of the electric field that is further amplified in the nonperturbative regime. As such, the system provides a tunable setting to simulate topological Kondo semimetals. Finally, we discuss the pathways that connect the physics realized here to the Weyl-Kondo semimetals and their proximate phases,which have been advanced in recent years in topological Kondo lattice models and materials.
ISSN:2643-1564