Hydrostatic Pressure-Enhanced Correlated Magnetism and Chern Insulator in Moiré <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msub> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>WSe</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn>
Moiré semiconductors offer flat bands where Coulomb interactions and band topology intertwine, while the interlayer coupling plays a core role in the formation of moiré potential. However, the limited interlayer coupling strength and the lack of efficient tuning methods hinder further exploration of correlated phenomena in moiré semiconductors. We introduce a cryogenic dual-gated diamond-anvil platform using helium as a pressure medium, enabling reversible hydrostatic tuning together with magneto-optical spectroscopy in twisted bilayer <a:math xmlns:a="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <a:mrow> <a:msub> <a:mrow> <a:mi>WSe</a:mi> </a:mrow> <a:mn>2</a:mn> </a:msub> </a:mrow> </a:math> . Pressure enhances the moiré potential, redshifts excitons, and stabilizes Stoner ferromagnetism otherwise absent at a 3.1° twist. Simultaneously, the half-filled <c:math xmlns:c="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <c:mrow> <c:mi>C</c:mi> <c:mo>=</c:mo> <c:mn>1</c:mn> </c:mrow> </c:math> Chern insulating state strengthens, exhibiting a reduced saturation field. Moreover, we observed a topological phase transition from Chern insulator to Mott insulator at around 2 GPa. First-principles calculations reveal that a <e:math xmlns:e="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <e:mrow> <e:mi mathvariant="normal">Γ</e:mi> <e:mo>−</e:mo> <e:mi>K</e:mi> </e:mrow> </e:math> valence band maximum switching drives this transition by converting an Ising-like topological <h:math xmlns:h="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <h:mrow> <h:mi>K</h:mi> </h:mrow> </h:math> -valley miniband into a spin-degenerate trivial <j:math xmlns:j="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" display="inline"> <j:mi mathvariant="normal">Γ</j:mi> </j:math> miniband. Our findings demonstrate hydrostatic pressure as a powerful, continuous control axis for correlated magnetism and topological band engineering in moiré materials.
Authors
- Anonymous
Institutions
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Shanghai Jiao Tong University (CN)
- National Institute for Materials Science (JP)
- Hefei University (CN)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids (DE)
- Center for High Pressure Science and Technology Advanced Research (CN)
- University of Tennessee at Knoxville (US)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Physical Review X
- Published
- 2026-02-04
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1103/th65-gff6
- Primary Topic
- 2D Materials and Applications
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00