Spin-textured Chern bands in AB-stacked transition metal dichalcogenide bilayers

While transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD)-based moire ' materials have been shown to host various correlated electronic phenomena, topological states have not been experimentally observed until now [T. Li et al., Quantum anomalous Hall effect from intertwined moire bands. arXiv [Preprint] (2021). https://arxiv.org/abs/2107.01796 (Accessed 5 July 2021)]. In this work, using first-principle calculations and continuum modeling, we reveal the displacement field-induced topological moire bands in AB-stacked TMD heterobilayer MoTe2/WSe2. Valley-contrasting Chern bands with nontrivial spin texture are formed from interlayer hybridization between MoTe2 and WSe2 bands of nominally opposite spins. Our study establishes a recipe for creating topological bands in AB-stacked TMD bilayers in general, which provides a highly tunable platform for realizing quantum-spin Hall and interaction-induced quantum anomalous Hall effects.

Automated summary

The study reveals the formation of topological moire bands induced by displacement fields in AB-stacked TMD heterobilayers and provides a method for creating such bands. This establishes a tunable platform for realizing quantum-spin Hall and interaction-induced quantum anomalous Hall effects.