Electric Field-driven Topological Phase Transitions in Twisted MoTe₂

The fractional quantum anomalous Hall effect (FQAHE), a lattice analogue to the fractional quantum Hall effect, displays fractionally quantized Hall conductivity in the absence of an external magnetic field. This remarkable effect has recently been realized in twisted MoTe₂ bilayer in rhombohedral stacking. In this talk, we will report our study of electrically tunable topological phase transitions in this new system. Near -1/2 filling, we observe a transition from the putative zero-field composite fermi-liquid state to a correlated insulating state and then to a metallic state with strong local magnetic interactions. Near -2/3 fillings, we reveal a competition between FQAHE and charge density wave order that breaks the translation symmetry. Our work shows that the large parameter space offered by tuning knobs such as electrostatic doping, twist angle, and electric field provides insight to the FQAHE and proximate phases.