Controlling the Atomic Reconstruction in Twisted MoSe2/WSe2 with a Monolayer hBN Spacer
Abstract
Twisted van der Waals heterobilayers are a promising material platform for studying collective exciton many-body phenomena, but near-aligned structures often exhibit a local, anisotropic atomic reconstruction that compromises lateral homogeneity. The present study describes how atomic-scale rearrangement in adjacent regions of hBN-encapsulated, near-aligned MoSe2/WSe2 heterobilayers is controlled by the presence of a mono- or bilayer hBN spacer between the two monolayers. High-angle annular dark-field STEM directly resolves the atomic alignment in both layers and shows that the spacer suppresses the reconstruction and strongly increases the structural uniformity of the heterobilayers. 4D-STEM quantitatively maps local rotation, dilation, and heterostrain, revealing that the separated regions remain consistent with rigid moiré superlattice simulations, whereas without the spacer the structural parameters have two to three times broader distributions. By suppressing reconstruction, ultrathin hBN spacers therefore provide an effective route to enhance lattice homogeneity in MoSe2/WSe2 heterobilayers targeting collective excitonic and optoelectronic phenomena.
Related
- Emerging network model in a twisted monolayer-rhombohedral graphene
- Controlling light shifts in chip-scale atomic beam clocks
- Contrasting Γ- and K-Valley Moiré Physics in Twisted Monolayer/Bilayer WSe2
- Supermoiré Reconstruction and Topological Mosaics in Twisted Trilayer WSe2 and MoTe2
- Moiré reconstruction at a twisted SrTiO3 interface
BibTeX
@misc{figueiredo2026controlling,
title = {{Controlling the Atomic Reconstruction in Twisted MoSe$_2$/WSe$_2$ with a Monolayer hBN Spacer}},
author = {Johannes Figueiredo and Kaiyuan Chen and Aubrey Penn and Mirco Troue and Sebastian Loy and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi and Frances M. Ross and Julian Klein and Alexander W. Holleitner},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.13493},
eprint = {2610.13493},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13493},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Controlling the Atomic Reconstruction in Twisted MoSe_2/WSe_2 with a Monolayer hBN Spacer
AU - Johannes Figueiredo
AU - Kaiyuan Chen
AU - Aubrey Penn
AU - Mirco Troue
AU - Sebastian Loy
AU - Kenji Watanabe
AU - Takashi Taniguchi
AU - Frances M. Ross
AU - Julian Klein
AU - Alexander W. Holleitner
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/09
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.13493
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.13493
AB - Twisted van der Waals heterobilayers are a promising material platform for studying collective exciton many-body phenomena, but near-aligned structures often exhibit a local, anisotropic atomic reconstruction that compromises lateral homogeneity. The present study describes how atomic-scale rearrangement in adjacent regions of hBN-encapsulated, near-aligned MoSe_2/WSe_2 heterobilayers is controlled by the presence of a mono- or bilayer hBN spacer between the two monolayers. High-angle annular dark-field STEM directly resolves the atomic alignment in both layers and shows that the spacer suppresses the reconstruction and strongly increases the structural uniformity of the heterobilayers. 4D-STEM quantitatively maps local rotation, dilation, and heterostrain, revealing that the separated regions remain consistent with rigid moiré superlattice simulations, whereas without the spacer the structural parameters have two to three times broader distributions. By suppressing reconstruction, ultrathin hBN spacers therefore provide an effective route to enhance lattice homogeneity in MoSe_2/WSe_2 heterobilayers targeting collective excitonic and optoelectronic phenomena.
ER -