Topology Hierarchy of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides Built from Quantum Spin Hall Layers

Lixuan Xu; Yiwei Li; Yuqiang Fang; Huijun Zheng; Wujun Shi; Cheng Chen; Ding Pei; Donghui Lu; Makoto Hashimoto; Meixiao Wang; Lexian Yang; Xiao Feng; Haijun Zhang; Fuqiang Huang; Qikun Xue; Ke He; Zhongkai Liu; Yulin Chen

doi:10.1002/adma.202300227

Topology Hierarchy of Transition Metal Dichalcogenides Built from Quantum Spin Hall Layers

Adv Mater. 2023 May;35(21):e2300227. doi: 10.1002/adma.202300227. Epub 2023 Mar 30.

Authors

Lixuan Xu¹, Yiwei Li², Yuqiang Fang³, Huijun Zheng^{4

5}, Wujun Shi^{4

6

7}, Cheng Chen⁸, Ding Pei^{4

5}, Donghui Lu⁹, Makoto Hashimoto⁹, Meixiao Wang^{4

5}, Lexian Yang¹, Xiao Feng¹, Haijun Zhang¹⁰, Fuqiang Huang³, Qikun Xue¹, Ke He¹, Zhongkai Liu^{4

5}, Yulin Chen^{4

5

11}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics, Department of Physics, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, P. R. China.
² Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS), Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, P. R. China.
³ State Key Laboratory of Rare Earth Materials Chemistry and Applications College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, P. R. China.
⁴ School of Physical Science and Technology, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, P. R. China.
⁵ ShanghaiTech Laboratory for Topological Physics, Shanghai, 201210, P. R. China.
⁶ Center for Transformative Science, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, P. R. China.
⁷ Shanghai high repetition rate XFEL and extreme light facility (SHINE), ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, 201210, P. R. China.
⁸ Advanced Light Source, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, 94720, USA.
⁹ Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, CA, 94025, USA.
¹⁰ National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and School of Physics, Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210093, P. R. China.
¹¹ Clarendon LaboratoryDepartment of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3PU, UK.

PMID: 36870326
DOI: 10.1002/adma.202300227

Abstract

The evolution of the physical properties of 2D material from monolayer limit to the bulk reveals unique consequences from dimension confinement and provides a distinct tuning knob for applications. Monolayer 1T'-phase transition metal dichalcogenides (1T'-TMDs) with ubiquitous quantum spin Hall (QSH) states are ideal 2D building blocks of various 3D topological phases. However, the stacking geometry has been previously limited to the bulk 1T'-WTe₂ type. Here, the novel 2M-TMDs consisting of translationally stacked 1T'-monolayers are introduced as promising material platforms with tunable inverted bandgaps and interlayer coupling. By performing advanced polarization-dependent angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy as well as first-principles calculations on the electronic structure of 2M-TMDs, a topology hierarchy is revealed: 2M-WSe₂ , MoS_2, and MoSe₂ are weak topological insulators (WTIs), whereas 2M-WS₂ is a strong topological insulator (STI). Further demonstration of topological phase transitions by tunning interlayer distance indicates that band inversion amplitude and interlayer coupling jointly determine different topological states in 2M-TMDs. It is proposed that 2M-TMDs are parent compounds of various exotic phases including topological superconductors and promise great application potentials in quantum electronics due to their flexibility in patterning with 2D materials.

Keywords: angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy; quantum spin Hall; topological phase transition; transition metal dichalcogenides.

Abstract

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