Electric backaction on moir\'e mechanics

Abstract

A lattice mismatch between Van der Waals layers produces a moir\'e pattern and a subsequent electron band reconstruction. When the bilayer is charged, the sliding motion of one layer with respect to the other produces electric pumping. Here I discuss the reciprocal process: that a voltage bias produces a layer-shear mechanical force. The effect is deduced from the lowest-order correction to the mechanical action by the coupling with electrons in an external field. In twisted bilayer graphene the new mechanical force is shown to be perpendicular to the applied field (due to C$_2$ symmetries exchanging the layers) and proportional to the charge density measured from neutrality. This is strictly true when the chemical potential is within a gap opened by the moir\'e potential due to a topological quantization, and approximately true when the chemical potential crosses the flat bands in a model including the self-consistent Hartree interaction. In a mechanical device the effect should be manifested as an apparent enhancement of the friction between layers when the system is charged. Depinning fields for the sliding motion of the layers are estimated in the order of $\mathcal{E}_c\sim$ kV/cm around the magic angle.