Engineering Three-Dimensional Moire Flat Bands

Twisting two adjacent layers of van der Waals materials with respect to each other can lead to flat two-dimensional electronic bands which enables a wealth of physical phenomena. Here, we generalize this concept of so-called moire flat bands to engineer flat bands in all three spatial dimensions controlled by the twist angle. The basic concept is to stack the material such that the large spatial moire interference patterns are spatially shifted from one twisted layer to the next. We exemplify the general concept by considering graphitic systems, boron nitride, and WSe2, but the approach is applicable to any two-dimensional van der Waals material. For hexagonal boron nitride, we develop an ab initio fitted tight binding model that captures the corresponding three-dimensional low-energy electronic structure. We outline that interesting three-dimensional correlated phases of matter can be induced and controlled following this route, including quantum magnets and unconventional superconducting states.

Automated summary

Twisting adjacent layers of van der Waals materials can create flat two-dimensional electronic bands, and this concept can be extended to three spatial dimensions. By applying this approach to various two-dimensional materials like graphitic systems, boron nitride, and WSe2, interesting three-dimensional phases such as quantum magnets and unconventional superconducting states can be induced and controlled.