Increasing the proximity induced spin-orbit coupling in bilayer graphene/WSe$_2$ heterostructures with pressure

Combining graphene with transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) leads to enhanced spin-orbit coupling (SOC) in the graphene. The induced SOC has a large effect on the low-energy part of the band structure leading to or stabilizing novel phases such as topological phases or superconductivity. Here, the pressure dependence of the SOC strength is investigated in bilayer graphene/WSe$_2$ heterostructures. We performed magnetoconductance studies, such as weak localization, quantum Hall, and Shubnikov-de Haas oscillation measurements to extract the different SOC terms which determine the low-energy band structure of BLG. We find the proximity-induced SOC strengths increased by more than 50\% as a result of applying 2\,GPa hydrostatic pressure. Our studies highlight the opportunity to increase the SOC coupling strength with pressure, which can be important for correlated phases or spin qubits in BLG/WSe$_2$ heterostructures.