Experimental signature of layer skyrmions and implications for band topology in twisted WSe2 bilayers

Twisted homobilayers of transition-metal dichalcogenides have been established as an ideal platform for studying strong correlation phenomena, as exemplified by the recent discovery of fractional Chern insulator states in twisted MoTe2, as well as Chern insulators and unconventional superconductivity in twisted WSe2. In these systems, a non-trivial topology in the strongly layer-hybridized regime can arise from a spatial patterning of interlayer tunnelling amplitudes and layer-dependent potentials that yields a lattice of layer skyrmions. Here we report experimental signatures of skyrmion textures in the layer degree of freedom of rhombohedral-stacked twisted WSe2 homobilayers. Using scanning tunnelling spectroscopy that separately resolves the Γ-valley and K-valley moiré electronic states, we reveal opposite layer polarizations of the K valley at two different lattice sites with opposite stacking order within the moiré unit cell. These findings are consistent with the theoretically predicted layer-skyrmion texture. We also use our experimental results to parameterize a common continuum model of moiré bands in twisted bilayers, further establishing a direct correlation between the shape of the local density of states in real space and the topology of the topmost moiré band. Evidence is shown for a skyrmion-like texture in the layer polarization of the electronic wavefunctions of a twisted two-dimensional material. This provides support for theories that link this spatial texture to the topological properties.