Twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) has received substantial attention in various research fields due to its unconventional physical properties originating from Moiré superlattices. The electronic band structure in tBLG modified by interlayer interactions enables the emergence of low-energy van Hove singularities in the density of states, allowing the observation of intriguing features such as increased optical conductivity and photocurrent at visible or near-infrared wavelengths. Here, we show that the third-order optical nonlinearity can be considerably modified depending on the stacking angle in tBLG. The third-harmonic generation (THG) efficiency is found to significantly increase when the energy gap at the van Hove singularity matches the three-photon resonance of incident light. Further study on electrically tuneable optical nonlinearity reveals that the gate-controlled THG enhancement varies with the twist angle in tBLG, resulting in a THG enhanced up to 60 times compared to neutral monolayer graphene. Our results prove that the twist angle opens up a new way to control and increase the optical nonlinearity of tBLG, suggesting rotation-induced tuneable nonlinear optics in stacked two-dimensional material systems.

Molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2) is a relatively unexplored layered transition metal dichalcogenide in nonlinear optics. Several recent studies have shown that MoTe2 has strong second-order optical nonlinearities originating from tellurium atoms. However, the third-order optical nonlinearities of MoTe2 have not been explored yet, except for the nonparametric saturable absorption process. Here we report the enhanced optical third-harmonic generation in phase-engineered MoTe2 thin films. MoTe2 films, including 2H and 1T′ phases simultaneously, are synthesized by the flux-controlled phase-engineering method, and their nonlinear response is characterized. We observe that the 2H-MoTe2 film exhibits up to a 15-fold stronger nonlinear signal than that of the 1T′-phase film. The estimated third-order effective nonlinear susceptibility of 2H-MoTe2 is 9.3 × 10–19 m2 V–2 maximum, which is larger than highly nonlinear layered materials such as molybdenum disulfide. Our MoTe2 film synthesized with the desired phase over a large area will be a potential building block for ultrathin nonlinear photonics.

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have various electronic and optical properties depending on their structure, so they can be used as a fascinating material in various applications including photonics, electronics, optoelectronics, and valleytronics. In particular, spiral TMDCs grown through the formation of screw dislocations exhibit novel electronic and optical properties different from layer‐by‐layer TMDCs. However, large‐area structure‐selective synthesis of TMDCs remains challenging. Here, this work reports for the first time the large‐area structure‐selective synthesis of monolayer MoSe2 and spiral MoSe2 using a flux‐controlled chemical vapor deposition method. Under a low MoSe2 flux condition, monolayer MoSe2 is synthesized, whereas thick spiral MoSe2 is synthesized under a high flux condition. Under a medium flux condition, both monolayer and spiral MoSe2 are synthesized. In addition, through the nonlinear optical (NLO) signal analysis of monolayer MoSe2 and spiral MoSe2, the giant enhancement of NLO signals induced by the combined effect of breaking inversion symmetry and the excitonic resonance effects in the synthesized MoSe2 is confirmed. Monolayer MoSe2 and spiral MoSe2 synthesized using this method are expected to be used as advanced optical materials for novel electronics, optoelectronics, and NLO applications.