Bridging the small and large in twisted transition metal dicalcogenide homobilayers: a tight binding model capturing orbital interference and topology across a wide range of twist angles

Abstract

Many of the important phases observed in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide homobilayers are driven by short-range interactions, which should be captured by a local tight binding description since no Wannier obstruction exists for these systems. Yet, published theoretical descriptions have been mutually inconsistent, with honeycomb lattice tight binding models adopted for some twist angles, triangular lattice models adopted for others, and with tight binding models forsaken in favor of band projected continuum models in many numerical simulations. Here, we derive and study a minimal model containing both honeycomb orbitals and a triangular site that represents the band physics across a wide range of twist angles. The model provides a natural basis to study the interplay of interaction and topology in these heterostructures. It elucidates from generic features of the bilayer the sequence of Chern numbers occurring as twist angle is varied, and the microscopic origin of the magic angle at which flat-band physics occurs. At integer filling, the model successfully captures the Chern ferromagnetic and van-Hove driven antiferromagnetic insulators experimentally observed for small and large angles, respectively, and allows a straightforward calculation of the magneto-electric properties of the system.

References in corpus (8)

• Signatures of Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall States in Twisted MoTe2 Bilayer
• Observation of Fractionally Quantized Anomalous Hall Effect
• Bulk Topological Invariants in Noninteracting Point Group Symmetric Insulators
• Observation of integer and fractional quantum anomalous Hall effects in twisted bilayer MoTe2
• Spin chirality on a two-dimensional frustrated lattice
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• Maximally Localized Wannier Orbitals, Interaction Models and Fractional Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in Twisted Bilayer MoTe2
• Kanamori-Moiré-Hubbard model for transition metal dichalcogenide homobilayers

Cited by in corpus (17)

• Superconductivity in twisted bilayer WSe${}_2$
• Superconductivity in twisted transition metal dichalcogenide homobilayers
• Theory of Correlated Insulators and Superconductor at $\nu =1$ in Twisted WSe${}_2$
• Twist-angle evolution of the intervalley-coherent antiferromagnet in twisted WSe${}_2$
• Theory of Topological Superconductivity and Antiferromagnetic Correlated Insulators in Twisted Bilayer WSe${}_2$
• Spinon pairing induced by chiral in-plane exchange and the stabilization of odd-spin Chern number spin liquid in twisted ${\mathrm{MoTe}}_2$
• Theory of intervalley-coherent AFM order and topological superconductivity in tWSe${}_2$
• Efficient prediction of superlattice and anomalous miniband topology from quantum geometry
• Hofstadter spectrum of Chern bands in twisted transition metal dichalcogenides
• Attractive Haldane bilayers for trapping non-Abelian anyons
• Topologically protected flatness in chiral moiré heterostructures
• Angle evolution of the superconducting phase diagram in twisted bilayer WSe2
• Quantum-geometric dipole: a topological boost to flavor ferromagnetism in flat bands
• Site-polarized Mott phases competing with a correlated metal in twisted WSe${}_2$
• Stripe antiferromagnetism and chiral superconductivity in tWSe${}_2$
• Onset of spin-valley order and Stoner boundaries in twisted WSe${}_2$
• Higher Chern bands in helical homotrilayer transition metal dichalcogenides