Flat band in twisted bilayer Bravais lattices

Abstract

Band engineering in twisted bilayers of the five generic two-dimensional Bravais networks is demonstrated. We first derive symmetry-based constraints on the interlayer coupling, which helps us to predict and understand the shape of the potential barrier for the electrons under the influence of the moir\'{e} structure without reference to microscopic details. It is also pointed out that the generic constraints becomes best relevant when the typical length scale of the microscopic interlayer coupling is moderate. The concepts are numerically demonstrated in simple tight-binding models to show the band flattening due to the confinement into the potential profile fixed by the generic constraints. On the basis of the generic theory, we propose the possibility of anisotropic band flattening, in which quasi one-dimensional band dispersion is generated from relatively isotropic original band dispersion. In the strongly correlated regime, anisotropic band flattening leads to a spin-orbital model where intertwined magnetic and orbital ordering can give rise to rich physics.