Quadrupolar excitons and hybridized interlayer Mott insulator in a trilayer moiré superlattice

Zhen Lian, Dongxue Chen, Lei Ma, Yuze Meng, Ying Su, Li Yan, Xiong Huang, Qiran Wu, Xinyue Chen, Mark Blei, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, Sefaattin Tongay, Chuanwei Zhang, Yong-Tao Cui () and Su-Fei Shi ()
Additional contact information
Zhen Lian: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Dongxue Chen: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Lei Ma: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Yuze Meng: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Ying Su: University of Texas at Dallas
Li Yan: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Xiong Huang: University of California
Qiran Wu: University of California
Xinyue Chen: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Mark Blei: Arizona State University
Takashi Taniguchi: National Institute for Materials Science
Kenji Watanabe: National Institute for Materials Science
Sefaattin Tongay: Arizona State University
Chuanwei Zhang: University of Texas at Dallas
Yong-Tao Cui: University of California
Su-Fei Shi: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) moiré superlattices, owing to the moiré flatbands and strong correlation, can host periodic electron crystals and fascinating correlated physics. The TMDC heterojunctions in the type-II alignment also enable long-lived interlayer excitons that are promising for correlated bosonic states, while the interaction is dictated by the asymmetry of the heterojunction. Here we demonstrate a new excitonic state, quadrupolar exciton, in a symmetric WSe2-WS2-WSe2 trilayer moiré superlattice. The quadrupolar excitons exhibit a quadratic dependence on the electric field, distinctively different from the linear Stark shift of the dipolar excitons in heterobilayers. This quadrupolar exciton stems from the hybridization of WSe2 valence moiré flatbands. The same mechanism also gives rise to an interlayer Mott insulator state, in which the two WSe2 layers share one hole laterally confined in one moiré unit cell. In contrast, the hole occupation probability in each layer can be continuously tuned via an out-of-plane electric field, reaching 100% in the top or bottom WSe2 under a large electric field, accompanying the transition from quadrupolar excitons to dipolar excitons. Our work demonstrates a trilayer moiré system as a new exciting playground for realizing novel correlated states and engineering quantum phase transitions.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40288-9

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