Scientific Achievement
Atomic-scale imaging and full electrical manipulation of chiral interface states in a moiré quantum anomalous Hall insulator, i.e., a Chern insulator.
Significance and Impact
Direct visualization of chiral interface state wavefunction reveals the interplay between strong correlation and non-trivial topology, and provides a new technique for precise local electrical control of 1D conducting channels.
Research Details
- Induced opposite Chern domains in moiré tMBLG using electrostatic gating.
- STM spectroscopy to image the electronic wavefunction of the resulting 1D chiral interface states.
- Moved and created chiral interface states with predetermined chirality using back-gating and local tip-pulse-induced quantum dot formation.
- Comparison to theory enabled the extraction of chiral interface state length scales important for future device applications.
