Moiré enhanced charge density wave state in twisted 1T-TiTe2/1T-TiSe2 heterostructures

Nanoscale periodic moiré patterns, for example those formed at the interface of a twisted bilayer of two-dimensional materials, provide opportunities for engineering the electronic properties of van der Waals heterostructures 1 – 11 . In this work, we synthesized the epitaxial heterostructure of 1T-TiTe 2 /1T-TiSe 2 with various twist angles using molecular beam epitaxy and investigated the moiré pattern induced/enhanced charge density wave (CDW) states with scanning tunnelling microscopy. When the twist angle is near zero degrees, 2 × 2 CDW domains are formed in 1T-TiTe 2 , separated by 1 × 1 normal state domains, and trapped in the moiré pattern. The formation of the moiré-trapped CDW state is ascribed to the local strain variation due to atomic reconstruction. Furthermore, this CDW state persists at room temperature, suggesting its potential for future CDW-based applications. Such moiré-trapped CDW patterns were not observed at larger twist angles. Our study paves the way for constructing metallic twist van der Waals bilayers and tuning many-body effects via moiré engineering. A moiré-trapped charge density wave is observed at room temperature in a twisted transition metal dichalcogenide system and attributed to local strain variation due to atomic reconstruction.