Pressure-Driven Moire Potential Enhancement and Tertiary Gap Opening in Graphene/h-BN Heterostructure

YP Wang and JQ An and CH Ye and XQ Wang and D Mai and HZ Zhao and Y Zhang and CY Peng and K Watanabe and T Taniguchi and XY Sun and RC Dai and ZP Wang and W Qin and ZH Qiao and ZM Zhang, PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS, 135, 046303 (2025).

DOI: 10.1103/xs5j-hp3p

Moire superlattices enable engineering of correlated quantum states through tunable periodic potentials, where twist angle controls periodicity but dynamic potential strength modulation remains challenging. Here, we develop a high-pressure quantum transport technique for van der Waals heterostructures, achieving the ultimate pressure limit (similar to 9 GPa) in encapsulated moire devices. In aligned graphene/h-BN, we demonstrate that pressure induces a substantial enhancement of the moire potential strength, evidenced by the suppression of the first valence bandwidth and the near-doubling of the primary band gap. Moreover, we report the first observation of a tertiary gap emerging above 6.4 GPa, verifying theoretical predictions. Our results establish hydrostatic pressure as a universal parameter to reshape moire band structures. By enabling quantum transport studies at previously inaccessible pressure regimes, this Letter expands the accessible parameter space for exploring correlated phases in moire systems.

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