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Magnetic and moiré proximity effects in WSe2/WSe2/CrI3 trilayers
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  • Published: 04 May 2026

Magnetic and moiré proximity effects in WSe2/WSe2/CrI3 trilayers

  • Junyi Liu1,
  • Xu Zhang1 &
  • Gang Lu1 

npj Computational Materials (2026) Cite this article

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  • Materials science
  • Nanoscience and technology
  • Physics

Abstract

Integrating magnetic order to moiré superlattices is of significant scientific and technological interest. Based on first-principles calculations, we study the interplay of magnetic proximity and moiré proximity in WSe2/WSe2/CrI3 trilayers with different stackings and twist angles. Large valley splitting is observed due to redistribution of the exciton charge density across layers via a super-exchange-like mechanism, and its electric-field dependence bears similarity to electrically tunable and valley-selective Feshbach resonances. The valley splitting can be magnified in moiré superlattices owing to the superposition of Umklapp excitons folded from moiré minibands, yielding spatially modulated and enhanced magnetic proximity. The moiré proximity effect is demonstrated via an imprinted moiré potential on CrI3 layer and its feedback to the direct moiré potential on WSe2 bilayers is observed. The cooperation between the direct and imprinted moiré potentials is shown to yield novel topological and correlated states.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by US Army Research Office (W911NF-23-10205 and W911NF-25-10117). XZ acknowledges the support of US National Science Foundation (DMR-2105918).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, California State University Northridge, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Junyi Liu, Xu Zhang & Gang Lu

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  1. Junyi Liu
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  2. Xu Zhang
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  3. Gang Lu
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gang Lu.

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Liu, J., Zhang, X. & Lu, G. Magnetic and moiré proximity effects in WSe2/WSe2/CrI3 trilayers. npj Comput Mater (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-026-02106-w

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  • Received: 28 February 2026

  • Accepted: 23 April 2026

  • Published: 04 May 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41524-026-02106-w

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