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Quantum anomalous Hall effect from intertwined moiré bands

Author

Listed:
  • Tingxin Li

    (Cornell University
    Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

  • Shengwei Jiang

    (Cornell University
    Shanghai Jiao Tong University)

  • Bowen Shen

    (Cornell University)

  • Yang Zhang

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Lizhong Li

    (Cornell University)

  • Zui Tao

    (Cornell University)

  • Trithep Devakul

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Kenji Watanabe

    (National Institute for Materials Science)

  • Takashi Taniguchi

    (National Institute for Materials Science)

  • Liang Fu

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

  • Jie Shan

    (Cornell University
    Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science)

  • Kin Fai Mak

    (Cornell University
    Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science)

Abstract

Electron correlation and topology are two central threads of modern condensed matter physics. Semiconductor moiré materials provide a highly tuneable platform for studies of electron correlation1–12. Correlation-driven phenomena, including the Mott insulator2–5, generalized Wigner crystals2,6,9, stripe phases10 and continuous Mott transition11,12, have been demonstrated. However, non-trivial band topology has remained unclear. Here we report the observation of a quantum anomalous Hall effect in AB-stacked MoTe2 /WSe2 moiré heterobilayers. Unlike in the AA-stacked heterobilayers11, an out-of-plane electric field not only controls the bandwidth but also the band topology by intertwining moiré bands centred at different layers. At half band filling, corresponding to one particle per moiré unit cell, we observe quantized Hall resistance, h/e2 (with h and e denoting the Planck’s constant and electron charge, respectively), and vanishing longitudinal resistance at zero magnetic field. The electric-field-induced topological phase transition from a Mott insulator to a quantum anomalous Hall insulator precedes an insulator-to-metal transition. Contrary to most known topological phase transitions13, it is not accompanied by a bulk charge gap closure. Our study paves the way for discovery of emergent phenomena arising from the combined influence of strong correlation and topology in semiconductor moiré materials.

Suggested Citation

  • Tingxin Li & Shengwei Jiang & Bowen Shen & Yang Zhang & Lizhong Li & Zui Tao & Trithep Devakul & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Liang Fu & Jie Shan & Kin Fai Mak, 2021. "Quantum anomalous Hall effect from intertwined moiré bands," Nature, Nature, vol. 600(7890), pages 641-646, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:600:y:2021:i:7890:d:10.1038_s41586-021-04171-1
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04171-1
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Peng Deng & Christopher Eckberg & Peng Zhang & Gang Qiu & Eve Emmanouilidou & Gen Yin & Su Kong Chong & Lixuan Tai & Ni Ni & Kang L. Wang, 2022. "Probing the mesoscopic size limit of quantum anomalous Hall insulators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
    2. Richen Xiong & Samuel L. Brantly & Kaixiang Su & Jacob H. Nie & Zihan Zhang & Rounak Banerjee & Hayley Ruddick & Kenji Watanabe & Takashi Taniguchi & Seth Ariel Tongay & Cenke Xu & Chenhao Jin, 2024. "Tunable exciton valley-pseudospin orders in moiré superlattices," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Yi-Fan Zhao & Ruoxi Zhang & Jiaqi Cai & Deyi Zhuo & Ling-Jie Zhou & Zi-Jie Yan & Moses H. W. Chan & Xiaodong Xu & Cui-Zu Chang, 2023. "Creation of chiral interface channels for quantized transport in magnetic topological insulator multilayer heterostructures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    4. Martin Claassen & Lede Xian & Dante M. Kennes & Angel Rubio, 2022. "Ultra-strong spin–orbit coupling and topological moiré engineering in twisted ZrS2 bilayers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    5. Hongbing Cai & Abdullah Rasmita & Qinghai Tan & Jia-Min Lai & Ruihua He & Xiangbin Cai & Yan Zhao & Disheng Chen & Naizhou Wang & Zhao Mu & Zumeng Huang & Zhaowei Zhang & John J. H. Eng & Yuanda Liu &, 2023. "Interlayer donor-acceptor pair excitons in MoSe2/WSe2 moiré heterobilayer," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    6. Xiao-Wei Zhang & Chong Wang & Xiaoyu Liu & Yueyao Fan & Ting Cao & Di Xiao, 2024. "Polarization-driven band topology evolution in twisted MoTe2 and WSe2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    7. Daniel Kaplan & Tobias Holder & Binghai Yan, 2023. "General nonlinear Hall current in magnetic insulators beyond the quantum anomalous Hall effect," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.

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