Published May 29, 2023 | Version V05

Non-identical moire twins in bilayer graphene revealed by valley Hall effect measurements

Description

The superlattice obtained by aligning a monolayer graphene and boron nitride (BN) inherits from the hexagonal lattice a sixty degrees periodicity with the layer alignment. It implies that, in principle, the properties of the heterostructure must be identical for 0$^{\circ}$ and 60$^{\circ}$ of layer alignment. Here, we demonstrate, using dynamically rotatable van der Waals heterostructures, that the moir\'e superlattice formed in a bilayer graphene/BN has different electronic properties at 0$^{\circ}$ and 60$^{\circ}$ of alignment. Although the existence of these non-identical moir\'e twins is explained by different relaxation of the atomic structures for each alignment, the origin of the observed valley Hall effect remains to be explained. A simple Berry curvature argument do not hold to explain the hundred and twenty degrees periodicity of this observation. Our results highlight the complexity of the interplay between mechanical and electronic properties on moir\'e structure and the importance of taking into account atomic structure relaxation to understand its electronic properties.

Files

Files (1.8 MB)

Name Size Download all
md5:20f448876bf8fe4779a5b87ed89f987d
520.9 kB Download
md5:3e9d245a74c956c0c0e72944393147ca
2.9 kB Download
md5:44f323e2a8f5be61a5919343b3c8b7a1
364.4 kB Download
md5:c90da5a6597a26ec2c3c315d9c8a5257
91.6 kB Download
md5:a18cc5959673cae07c38925634e16274
178.6 kB Download
md5:319e165c7246d563c5753ff7062f7b49
81.3 kB Download
md5:5eab669b8a2d22ed196360397d6af361
777 Bytes Download
md5:346eb176c6ffe3b523155f753dd5f4e8
2.4 kB Download
md5:cd9f37a315cf49a427b828190175741a
182.2 kB Download
md5:eb7ba23daf0d8f696c82d2cc683ad28f
180.6 kB Download
md5:55836a81abc2676d356b445ed42d73ba
182.5 kB Download
md5:4ab119c07613eb100af91a72d775f8ed
221 Bytes Download

Additional details

Funding

European Commission
TWISTRONICS - Probing topological valley currents by angular layer alignment in van der Waals heterostructures 853282