Imaging moiré flat bands and Wigner molecular crystals in twisted bilayer MoTe₂

Twisted bilayer MoTe₂ (tMoTe₂) has recently emerged as an exceptional platform for realizing strongly correlated and topological quantum phases. Yet, its microscopic electronic structure remains largely unexplored. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) to directly image the moiré flat bands in dual-gated tMoTe₂ devices with twist angles of 2.3°-3.8°. A dual-gate design allows independent tuning of band filling and displacement field, enabling detailed spectroscopic mapping. We find that the low-energy flat bands are localized at MX and XM sites and form a topological honeycomb lattice at zero electric field. An applied electric field lifts the degeneracy of the layer, driving a transition to two decoupled triangular lattices with trivial topology. Our results match first-principles calculations, revealing K-valley hybridization as the microscopic origin. At large moiré potential, we observe Wigner molecular crystals forming a Kagome lattice at filling ν _MX = 3, demonstrating electric-field control of topology and correlation in tMoTe₂.