Imaging moiré flat bands and Wigner molecular crystals in twisted bilayer MoTe2

ABSTRACT Twisted bilayer MoTe2 (tMoTe2) has recently emerged as an exceptional platform for realizing strongly correlated and topological quantum phases. Yet, its microscopic electronic structure remains largely unexplored. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscopy/spectroscopy (STM/STS) to directly image the moiré flat bands in dual-gated tMoTe2 devices with twist angles of 2.3°–3.8°. A dual-gate design allows independent tuning of band filling and displacement field, enabling detailed spectroscopic mapping. We find that the low-energy flat bands are localized at MX and XM sites and form a topological honeycomb lattice at zero electric field. An applied electric field lifts the degeneracy of the layer, driving a transition to two decoupled triangular lattices with trivial topology. Our results match first-principles calculations, revealing K-valley hybridization as the microscopic origin. At large moiré potential, we observe Wigner molecular crystals forming a Kagome lattice at filling νMX = 3, demonstrating electric-field control of topology and correlation in tMoTe2.