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Exploring the regulatory effect of stacked layers on moiré excitons in twisted WSe2/WSe2/WSe2 homotrilayer

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Abstract

Moiré superlattices in van der Waals structures have emerged as a powerful platform for studying the novel quantum properties of two-dimensional materials. The periodic moiré patterns generated by these structures lead to the formation of flat mini-bands, which alter the electronic energy bands of the material. The resulting flat electronic bands can greatly enhance strong correlative interactions between electrons, leading to the emergence of exotic quantum phenomena, including moiré phonons and moiré excitons. While extensive research has been conducted on the exotic quantum phenomena in twisted bilayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), and the regulatory effect of stacked layers on moiré excitons remains unexplored. In this study, we report the fabrication of a twisted WSe2/WSe2/WSe2 homotrilayer with two twist angles and investigate the influence of stacked layers on moiré excitons. Our experiments reveal multiple moiré exciton splitting peaks in the twisted trilayer, with moiré potential depths of 78 and 112 meV in the bilayer and trilayer homostructures, respectively. We also observed the splitting of the moiré excitons at 90 K, indicating the presence of a deeper moiré potential in the twisted trilayer. Moreover, we demonstrate that stacked layers can tune the moiré excitons by manipulating temperature, laser power, and magnetic field. Our results provide a new physical model for studying moiré superlattices and their quantum properties, which could potentially pave the way for the development of quantum optoelectronics.

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Acknowledgements

The study was carefully planned and executed by Y. P. L., while H. H. Z. expertly fabricated the device and conducted Raman and PL characterizations. The low-temperature measurements were carried out by a team consisting of B. W., H. H. Z., and S. F.L. The critical analysis and interpretation of the data were conducted by a group of researchers, including H. H. Z., Y. P. L., B. W., Z. W. L., J. H., J. T. W., and C. T. W. The manuscript was initially drafted by H. H. Z., Y. P. L., and Z. W. L. All authors contributed significantly to the manuscript review and refinement. The study presented herein was generously supported by multiple funding agencies, including the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 61775241), the Hunan Province Key Research and Development Project (No. 2019GK2233), the Hunan Provincial Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (No. 2020JJ2059), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 62090035 and U19A2090), the Youth Innovation Team (No. 2019012) of CSU, the Key Program of Science and Technology Department of Hunan Province (Nos. 2019XK2001 and 2020XK2001), the Science and Technology Innovation Basic Research Project of Shenzhen (No. JCYJ20190806144418859), and the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No. 2022M713546). The authors also express their gratitude to the High-Performance Complex Manufacturing Key State Lab Project, Central South University (No. ZZYJKT2020-12), and the Australian Research Council (ARC Discovery Project, DP180102976) for their support of ZWL. CTW is grateful for support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 11974387) and the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. XDB33000000). H. H. Z. acknowledges support from the Postdoctoral Science Foundation of China (No. 2022M713546).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan Key Laboratory for Super-microstructure and Ultrafast Process, Central South University, 932 South Lushan Road, Changsha, 410083, China

    Haihong Zheng, Biao Wu, Shaofei Li, Jun He & Yan** Liu

  2. State Key Laboratory of Precision Manufacturing for Extreme Service Performance, Central South University, 932 South Lushan Road, Changsha, 410083, China

    Haihong Zheng, Biao Wu, Ji-an Duan & Yan** Liu

  3. Bei**g National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics, Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100190, China

    Chang-Tian Wang & Jian-Tao Wang

  4. School of Physical Sciences, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Bei**g, 100049, China

    Chang-Tian Wang & Jian-Tao Wang

  5. School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Zongwen Liu

  6. The University of Sydney Nano Institute, The University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, 2006, Australia

    Zongwen Liu

  7. Songshan Lake Materials Laboratory, Dongguan, 523808, China

    Jian-Tao Wang

  8. Shenzhen Research Institute of Central South University, Shenzhen, 518057, China

    Yan** Liu

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  1. Haihong Zheng
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  2. Biao Wu
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  9. Yan** Liu
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Correspondence to Yan** Liu.

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Zheng, H., Wu, B., Wang, CT. et al. Exploring the regulatory effect of stacked layers on moiré excitons in twisted WSe2/WSe2/WSe2 homotrilayer. Nano Res. 16, 10573–10579 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-023-5822-8

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