Quantum Nanomaterials by Twistronics

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Van der Waals heterostructures, assembled from 2D materials, offer unprecedented opportunities for the material design by layer-by-atomic-layer construction of artificial solids. The potential of this approach is enormous, as demonstrated by the hundreds of patents and thousands of research publications appearing annually in the field. This proposal will explore a new avenue in design of quantum solid state systems by employing a mutual rotation between adjacent crystalline planes, “twist”, to pattern their properties on the nanometre length scale. This opportunity has emerged due to my recent pioneering work with twisted layers of transition metal chalcogenides and ground-breaking technological achievements in ultra-high vacuum fabrication instrumentation. I will transform the emerging field of “twistronics” by the in-situ fine-tuning of moiré superstructure and making pioneering studies of novel quantum and strong correlation phenomena in 2D materials accessible for the first time. In particular, I will explore different regimes of lattice reconstruction in 2D semiconductors to engineer and study (1) quantum many-body states of electrons and (2) design confined quantum states defined by piezoelectric and pseudomagnetic nanotextures in semiconducting and charge density wave 2D materials. Moreover, we will create and study world-first twisted heterostructures with (3) superconducting and (4) superconducting and magnetic 2D materials, aiming to create strong periodic nanotextures of their electronic states. The realisation of my ambitious research programme is only possible due to our unique world-first UHV-technology which will allow assembly of high-quality twisted van der Waals heterostructures, and which we will develop to enable new dynamic twist-angle studies and local magnetic flux measurements. The potential impact of this proposal is ground-breaking for both fundamental science and nanotechnology, opening up a new route for nanoengineering of solids.