Moiré ferroelectricity engineered plasmonic excitations and nano-photocurrent in graphene/twisted-WSe₂ structures

Ferroelectricity, a spontaneous and reversible electric polarization, is found in certain classes of van der Waals (vdW) materials. The discovery of ferroelectricity in twisted vdW layers provides new opportunities to engineer spatially dependent electric and optical properties associated with the configuration of moiré superlattice domains and the network of domain walls. Here, we employ near-field infrared nano-imaging and nano-photocurrent measurements to study ferroelectricity in minimally twisted WSe₂. The ferroelectric domains are visualized through the imaging of the plasmonic response in a graphene monolayer adjacent to the moiré WSe₂ bilayers. Specifically, we find that the ferroelectric polarization in moiré domains is imprinted on the plasmonic response of the graphene. Complementary nano-photocurrent measurements demonstrate that the optoelectronic properties of graphene are also modulated by the proximal ferroelectric domains. Our approach represents an alternative strategy for studying moiré ferroelectricity at native length scales and opens promising prospects for (opto)electronic devices.

Ref.: Zhang, S., Liu, Y., Sun, Z., Chen, X., Li, B., Moore, S. L., ... & Basov, D. N. (2023). Nature Communications, 14(1), 6200.