Valley charge-transfer insulator in twisted double bilayer WSe2

Abstract In flat-band systems, emergent physics can be substantially modified by the presence of another nearby electronic band. For example, a Mott˘Hubbard insulator can turn into a charge transfer insulator if other electronic states enter between the upper and lower Hubbard bands. Here, we introd...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: LingNan Wei, Qingxin Li, Majeed Ur Rehman, Yangchen He, Dongdong An, Shiwei Li, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Martin Claassen, Kostya S. Novoselov, Dante M. Kennes, Angel Rubio, Daniel A. Rhodes, Lede Xian, Geliang Yu, Lei Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-01-01
Series:Nature Communications
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-56490-w
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Summary:Abstract In flat-band systems, emergent physics can be substantially modified by the presence of another nearby electronic band. For example, a Mott˘Hubbard insulator can turn into a charge transfer insulator if other electronic states enter between the upper and lower Hubbard bands. Here, we introduce twisted double bilayer (TDB) WSe2, with twist angles near 60°, as a controllable platform in which the K-valley band can be tuned to close vicinity of the Γ-valley moiré flat band. At half-filling, correlations split the Γ-valley flat band into upper and lower Hubbard bands and a charge-transfer insulator forms between the Γ-valley upper Hubbard band and K-valley band. Using gate control, we continuously move the K-valley band across the Γ-valley Hubbard bands, and observe a tunable charge-transfer insulator gap and subsequently a continuous phase transition to a metal. The tuning of Mott˘Hubbard to charge-transfer insulator establishes valley degree of freedom as a suitable knob for transitions between exotic correlated phases.
ISSN:2041-1723