Topological excitonic insulators in electron bilayers modulated by twisted hBN

Abstract: Equilibrium interlayer exciton condensation is common in bilayer quantum Hall systems and is characterized by spontaneous phase coherence between isolated layers. It has been predicted that similar physics can occur in the absence of a magnetic field in some two-dimensional semiconductor bilayers. In this work we consider the case of two transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) monolayers separated by a twisted hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) bilayer or multilayer. The hBN layers suppress tunneling between the TMD layers so that phase coherence is spontaneous when it is present. When twisted, the hBN layers also form a ferroelectric moir\'e pattern that applies opposite triangular-lattice modulation potentials to the two TMD layers. We show via mean-field theory that at total hole filling per moir\'e unit cell $\nu=1$, this geometry can favor a chiral p-wave exciton condensate state in which the quantum anomalous Hall effect coexists with counter-flow superfluidity. We present a mean-field phase diagram for TMD hole bilayers modulated by twisted hBN, discuss the conditions needed for the realization of the p-wave condensate state, and propose experiments that could confirm its presence.