Moiré-induced lattice reconstruction at buried atomic interfaces

Abstract

Atomic reconstruction at twisted two-dimensional interfaces governs many of their emergent optical, electronic, and mechanical properties, including sliding ferroelectricity. Despite recent progress in understanding lattice reconstruction in suspended twisted bilayers, structural changes at van der Waals heterointerfaces between multilayer crystals remain largely unexplored. Here we use multi-slice electron ptychography to non-invasively recover the three-dimensional atomic structure at marginally twisted rhombohedral interfaces between thick transition-metal dichalcogenide crystals. With a position precision of ~3 pm and a depth resolution ~1 nm, we resolve the twist-induced lattice reconstruction field per layer, and the resulting dislocation network at the buried interface. Despite the bulk nature, we observe markedly strong in-plane interfacial reconstruction due to suppression of the out-of-plane bending by outer layers, exceeding predictions from our three-dimensional modelling. Furthermore, we extract the strain tensor evolution during the decay of the reconstruction into the bulk, providing a structural foundation for understanding multi-layer moiré systems.

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BibTeX RIS

BibTeX

@misc{clark2026moiréinduced,
  title = {{Moiré-induced lattice reconstruction at buried atomic interfaces}},
  author = {Nicholas Clark and Frederick Allars and Isaac Soltero and Wendong Wang and David Hopkinson and Hugo de Latour and James G. McHugh and William Talbott and Sam Sullivan-Allsop and Rongsheng Cai and Astrid Weston and Xiao Li and Gareth Tainton and Casey K. Cheung and Francisco Selles and Alex Summerfield and Andrey Kretinin and Christopher S. Allen and Vladimir Falko and Sarah J. Haigh and Roman Gorbachev},
  howpublished = {arXiv},
  year = {2026},
  month = aug,
  doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2608.30531},
  eprint = {2608.30531},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30531},
}

RIS

TY  - UNPB
TI  - Moiré-induced lattice reconstruction at buried atomic interfaces
AU  - Nicholas Clark
AU  - Frederick Allars
AU  - Isaac Soltero
AU  - Wendong Wang
AU  - David Hopkinson
AU  - Hugo de Latour
AU  - James G. McHugh
AU  - William Talbott
AU  - Sam Sullivan-Allsop
AU  - Rongsheng Cai
AU  - Astrid Weston
AU  - Xiao Li
AU  - Gareth Tainton
AU  - Casey K. Cheung
AU  - Francisco Selles
AU  - Alex Summerfield
AU  - Andrey Kretinin
AU  - Christopher S. Allen
AU  - Vladimir Falko
AU  - Sarah J. Haigh
AU  - Roman Gorbachev
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/08/31
PB  - arXiv
DO  - 10.48550/arxiv.2608.30531
UR  - https://arxiv.org/abs/2608.30531
AB  - Atomic reconstruction at twisted two-dimensional interfaces governs many of their emergent optical, electronic, and mechanical properties, including sliding ferroelectricity. Despite recent progress in understanding lattice reconstruction in suspended twisted bilayers, structural changes at van der Waals heterointerfaces between multilayer crystals remain largely unexplored. Here we use multi-slice electron ptychography to non-invasively recover the three-dimensional atomic structure at marginally twisted rhombohedral interfaces between thick transition-metal dichalcogenide crystals. With a position precision of ~3 pm and a depth resolution ~1 nm, we resolve the twist-induced lattice reconstruction field per layer, and the resulting dislocation network at the buried interface. Despite the bulk nature, we observe markedly strong in-plane interfacial reconstruction due to suppression of the out-of-plane bending by outer layers, exceeding predictions from our three-dimensional modelling. Furthermore, we extract the strain tensor evolution during the decay of the reconstruction into the bulk, providing a structural foundation for understanding multi-layer moiré systems.
ER  -

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