Correlated vdW materials

The ultimate example of two dimensional electronic systems is atomically-thin crystals. Starting from the bulk van der Waals materials, one can systematically reduce their thickness and tune the dimensionality from 3D (quasi-2D) to 2D. The atomically-thin 2D crystals of vdW materials keep the crystallineity intact, while the electronic structures are significantly changed. As the system approaches to the 2D limit, the effects of changes in interlayer coupling, quantum confinement, and broken inversion symmetry interplay with each other, leading to drastic difference in the ground state properties compared with their bulk forms. Especially, since correlation-driven states with broken symmetries are stabilized by a subtle balance of competing interactions, the relevant physical properties can be extremely sensitive to the environments. In this respect, the 2D crystals of correlated vdW materials are the new test ground for 2D physics of the broken symmetry states and also for new functionalities for electronic applications.