Twisted materials—known as moiré structures—have revolutionized modern physics, emerging as today's "alchemy" by creating entirely new phases of matter through simple geometric manipulation. The term "moiré" may sound familiar—it describes the strange rippling patterns you sometimes see when photographing striped shirts or screens; in physics, the same underlying principle applies at the atomic scale. Imagine taking two atomically thin sheets of either the same or different materials, stacking them up together, and rotating one layer slightly relative to the other.
Remarkably, this simple twist fundamentally transforms the resulting material, enabling it to exhibit exotic properties vastly different from its individual layers. By carefully controlling the twist angle, physicists can engineer entirely new quantum states, opening doors previously closed to experimental science.
These moiré structures promise a future rich with fundamental science and technological applications, from quantum simulators—specialized systems that help scientists study complex quantum phenomena—to ultrasensitive terahertz sensors and single-photon detectors.
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