Twist-Controlled Ferroelectricity and Emergent Multiferroicity in WSe2 Bilayers

Abstract

Recently, researchers have been investigating artificial ferroelectricity, which arises when inversion symmetry is broken in certain R-stacked, i.e., zero-degree twisted, van der Waals (vdW) bilayers. Here, the study reports the twist-controlled ferroelectricity in tungsten diselenide (WSe2) bilayers. The findings show noticeable room temperature ferroelectricity that decreases with twist angle within the range 0° < θ < 3°, and disappears completely for θ ≥ 4°. This variation aligns with moiré length scale-controlled ferroelectric dynamics (0° < θ < 3°), while loss beyond 4° may relate to twist-controlled commensurate to non-commensurate transitions. This twist-controlled ferroelectricity serves as a spectroscopic tool for detecting transitions between commensurate and incommensurate moiré patterns. At 5.5 K, 3° twisted WSe2 exhibits ferroelectric and correlation-driven ferromagnetic ordering, indicating twist-controlled multiferroic behavior. The study offers insights into twist-controlled coexisting ferro-ordering and serves as valuable spectroscopic tools.