Approaching Topological Physics in TMD heterostructures with Microwave Impedance Microscopy

With the advances of moiré engineering on van der Waals materials in the past decade, various exotic novel quantum phases have been realized in experiments thanks to the emergence of highly tunable and topologically nontrivial flat bands. Twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been demonstrated as a fruitful platform to realize and explore novel quantum phases, such as the zero-field fractional Chern insulator (FCI) in twisted MoTe₂ and unconventional superconductor in twisted WSe₂. To boost investigations on these exciting TMD moiré systems, with the presence of external perturbations, we employ microwave impedance microscopy, which offers spatially resolved information of conductivity and images of edge states evolution at cryogenic temperatures, focusing on the modulations of topological phase transitions. We would like to further explore these more intricate TMD moiré heterostructures with flat band hybridization that might lead to the observations of new topologically non-trivial physics.