Visualizing moir\'e ferroelectricity via plasmons and nano-photocurrent in graphene/twisted-WSe2 structures

• DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2309.06667
• Publication Date: 2023-10-04
• Authors: Shuai Zhang; Yang Liu; Zhiyuan Sun; Xinzhong Chen; Baichang Li; S. L. Moore; Song Liu; Zhiying Wang; S. E. Rossi; Ran Jing; Jordan Fonseca; Birui Yang; Yinming Shao; Chun-Ying Huang; Taketo Handa; Lin Xiong; Matthew Fu; Tsai-Chun Pan; Dorri Halbertal; Xinyi Xu; Wenjun Zheng; P. J. Schuck; A. N. Pasupathy; C. R. Dean; Xiaoyang Zhu; David H. Cobden; Xiaodong Xu; Mengkun Liu; M. M. Fogler; James C. Hone; D. N. Basov
• Keywords: Condensed Matter - Materials Science; Condensed Matter - Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics; Science; Physical Sciences; Q; Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall); Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci); FOS: Physical sciences; Condensed Matter Physics; Article; Physics - Optics; Optics (physics.optics)

AbstractFerroelectricity, a spontaneous and reversible electric polarization, is found in certain classes of van der Waals (vdW) materials. The discovery of ferroelectricity in twisted vdW layers provides new opportunities to engineer spatially dependent electric and optical properties associated with the configuration of moiré superlattice domains and the network of domain walls. Here, we employ near-field infrared nano-imaging and nano-photocurrent measurements to study ferroelectricity in minimally twisted WSe2. The ferroelectric domains are visualized through the imaging of the plasmonic response in a graphene monolayer adjacent to the moiré WSe2 bilayers. Specifically, we find that the ferroelectric polarization in moiré domains is imprinted on the plasmonic response of the graphene. Complementary nano-photocurrent measurements demonstrate that the optoelectronic properties of graphene are also modulated by the proximal ferroelectric domains. Our approach represents an alternative strategy for studying moiré ferroelectricity at native length scales and opens promising prospects for (opto)electronic devices.