Moiré Materials

Atomically thin van der Waals crystals can be stacked atop one another to create synthetic materials with entirely new properties known as moiré materials. A twist angle and/or lattice mismatch between layers results in a moiré pattern that strongly modifies the electronic, magnetic, optical, and phononic properties of the heterostructure. Following the initial discoveries of moiré patterns in twisted graphene and graphene aligned with hexagonal boron nitride, the recent discovery of strong correlations and superconductivity in magic-angle twisted bilayer graphene greatly accelerated the growth of the field. The family of moiré materials has since expanded to include a wide variety of materials including transition metal dichalcogenides and two-dimensional magnets, demonstrating the power of moiré engineering to induce and control novel properties in van der Waals heterostructures.

Guest Editors: Matthew Yankowitz and Kin Fai Mak