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Updated: Jul 15, 2025

Fabricating van der Waals Heterostructures with Precise Rotational Alignment
Published on: July 5, 2019
Twirling and Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking of Domain Wall Networks in Lattice-Reconstructed Heterostructures of
Mikhail A Kaliteevski1,2, Vladimir Enaldiev1,2, Vladimir I Fal'ko1,2,3
1National Graphene Institute, University of Manchester, Booth Street East, Manchester M13 9PL, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Lattice relaxation in twistronic bilayers with close lattice parameters and almost perfect crystallographic alignment of the layers results in the transformation of the moiré pattern into a sequence of preferential stacking domains and domain wall networks. Here, we show that reconstructed moiré superlattices of the perfectly aligned heterobilayers of same chalcogen transition metal dichalcogenides have broken-symmetry structures featuring twisted nodes ("twirls") of domain wall networks. The analysis of twist-angle dependence of strain characteristics for the broken-symmetry structures shows that the formation of twirl reduces the amount of hydrostatic strain around the nodes, potentially weakening their influence on the band edge energies of electrons and holes.
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