Applying long wavelength periodic potentials on quantum materials has recently been demonstrated to be a promising pathway for engineering novel quantum phases of matter. Here, we utilize twisted bilayer boron nitride (BN) as a moir\'e substrate for band structure engineering. Small-angle-twisted bilayer BN is endowed with periodically arranged up and down polar domains, which imprints a periodic electrostatic potential on a target two-dimensional (2D) material placed on top. As a proof of concept, we use Bernal bilayer graphene as the target material. The resulting modulation of the band structure appears as superlattice resistance peaks, tunable by varying the twist angle, and Hofstadter butterfly physics under a magnetic field. Additionally, we demonstrate the tunability of the moir\'e potential by altering the dielectric thickness underneath the twisted BN. Finally, we find that near-60{\deg}-twisted bilayer BN provides a unique platform for studying the moir\'e structural effect without the contribution from electrostatic moir\'e potentials. Tunable moir\'e polar substrates may serve as versatile platforms to engineer the electronic, optical, and mechanical properties of 2D materials and van der Waals heterostructures.
@article{arxiv.2405.03761,
title = {Band structure engineering using a moir\'e polar substrate},
author = {Xirui Wang and Cheng Xu and Samuel Aronson and Daniel Bennett and Nisarga Paul and Philip J. D. Crowley and Clément Collignon and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi and Raymond Ashoori and Efthimios Kaxiras and Yang Zhang and Pablo Jarillo-Herrero and Kenji Yasuda},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2405.03761},
year = {2025}
}