In situ twistronics of van der Waals heterostructures

Yaping Yang, Jidong Li, Jun Yin, Shuigang Xu, Ciaran Mullan, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, A. K. Geim, Konstantin S. Novoselov, Artem Mishchenko

Published 2020-10-08Version 1

In van der Waals heterostructures, electronic bands of two-dimensional (2D) materials, their nontrivial topology, and electron-electron interactions can be dramatically changed by a moire pattern induced by twist angles between different layers. Such process is referred to as twistronics, where the tuning of twist angle can be realized through mechanical manipulation of 2D materials. Here we demonstrate an experimental technique that can achieve in situ dynamical rotation and manipulation of 2D materials in van der Waals heterostructures. Using this technique we fabricated heterostructures where graphene is perfectly aligned with both top and bottom encapsulating layers of hexagonal boron nitride. Our technique enables twisted 2D material systems in one single stack with dynamically tunable optical, mechanical, and electronic properties.