Symmetry breakdown in franckeite: spontaneous strain, rippling and interlayer moiré

Abstract

Franckeite is a naturally occurring layered mineral with a structure composed of alternating stacks of SnS2-like and PbS-like layers. Although this superlattice is composed of a sequence of isotropic two-dimensional layers, it exhibits a spontaneous rippling that makes the material structurally anisotropic. We demonstrate that this rippling comes hand in hand with an inhomogeneous in-plane strain profile and anisotropic electrical, vibrational and optical properties. We argue that this symmetry breakdown results from a spatial modulation of the van der Waals interaction between layers due to the SnS2-like and PbS-like lattices incommensurability.

arXiv comment6 main text figures, Supp. Info. available upon request

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Cited by in corpus (6)

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• Naturally occurring van der Waals materials
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• Investigation of the Nonlinear Optical Frequency Conversion in Ultrathin Franckeite Heterostructures
• Observation of Photoluminescence from a Natural van der Waals Heterostructure
• Vibrational Properties of a Naturally Occurring Semiconducting van der Waals heterostructure