Phonons in twisted transition-metal dichalcogenide bilayers: Ultrasoft phasons and a transition from a superlubric to a pinned phase
Indrajit Maity, Mit H. Naik, Prabal K. Maiti, H. R. Krishnamurthy, Manish Jain
Abstract
The authors show the existence of phasons in twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides. They also show that when the rotation angle is large the layers freely slide over each other, but get pinned if the rotation angle is small. Low-frequency phonon modes can not only be used to infer the angle of rotation between the layers, but also provide insight into the origin of friction at nano-scale.
Topics & Concepts
Rotation (mathematics)Condensed matter physicsPhononBilayerTransition metalMaterials sciencePhase transitionPhase (matter)PhysicsChemistryGeometryMembraneBiochemistryMathematicsQuantum mechanicsCatalysis2D Materials and ApplicationsSupramolecular Self-Assembly in MaterialsGraphene research and applications