The effect of electron-phonon interactions on optical absorption spectra requires a special treatment in materials with strong electron-hole interactions. We conceptualize these effects as exciton-phonon coupling. Through phonon absorption and emission, the optically accessible excitons are scattered into dark finite-momentum exciton states. We derive a practical expression for the exciton-phonon self-energy that relates to the temperature dependence of the optical transitions and their broadening. This expression differs qualitatively from previous approximated expressions found in literature.
We study experimentally and theoretically the exciton-phonon interaction in MoSe2 monolayers encapsulated in hexagonal BN, which has an important impact on both optical absorption and emission processes. The exciton transition linewidth down to 1 meV at low temperatures makes it possible to observe high energy tails in absorption and emission extending over several meV, not masked by inhomogeneous broadening. We develop an analytical theory of the exciton-phonon interaction accounting for the deformation potential induced by the longitudinal acoustic phonons, which plays an important role in exciton formation. The theory allows fitting absorption and emission spectra and permits estimating the deformation potential in MoSe2 monolayers. We underline the reasons why exciton-phonon coupling is much stronger in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcodenides as compared to conventional quantum well structures. The importance of exciton-phonon interactions is further highlighted by the observation of a multitude of Raman features in the photoluminescence excitation experiments.
Micro-photoluminescence spectroscopy at variable temperature, excitation intensity and energy was performed on a single InAs/AlAs self-assembled quantum dot. The exciton emission line (zero-phonon line, ZPL) exhibits a broad sideband due to exciton-acoustic phonon coupling by the deformation potential mechanism. Additionally, narrow low-energy sidebands at about 0.25 meV of the ZPL are attributed to exciton-acoustic phonon piezoelectric coupling. In lowering the excitation energy or intensity these bands gradually dominate the emission spectrum of the quantum dot while the ZPL disappears. At high excitation intensity the sidebands due to piezoelectric coupling decrease strongly and the ZPL dominates the spectrum as a consequence of screening of the piezoelectric coupling by the photocreated free carriers.
The temperature-dependent optical response of excitons in semiconductors is controlled by the exciton-phonon interaction. When the exciton-lattice coupling is weak, the excitonic line has a Lorentzian profile resulting from motional narrowing, with a width increasing linearly with the lattice temperature $T$. In contrast, when the exciton-lattice coupling is strong, the lineshape is Gaussian with a width increasing sublinearly with the lattice temperature, proportional to $sqrt{T}$. While the former case is commonly reported in the literature, here the latter is reported for the first time, for hexagonal boron nitride. Thus the theoretical predictions of Toyozawa [Progr. Theor. Phys. 20, 53 (1958)] are supported by demonstrating that the exciton-phonon interaction is in the strong coupling regime in this Van der Waals crystal.
Self-assembled hybrid perovskite quantum wells have attracted attention due to their tunable emission properties, ease of fabrication and device integration. However, the dynamics of excitons in these materials, especially how they couple to phonons remains an open question. Here, we investigate two widely used materials, namely butylammonium lead iodide $(CH_3(CH_2)3NH_3)2PbI_4$ and hexylammonium lead iodide $(CH_3(CH_2)5NH_3)2PbI_4$, both of which exhibit broad photoluminescence tails at room temperature. We performed femtosecond vibrational spectroscopy to obtain a real-time picture of the exciton phonon interaction and directly identified the vibrational modes that couple to excitons. We show that the choice of the organic cation controls which vibrational modes the exciton couples to. In butylammonium lead iodide, excitons dominantly couple to a 100 cm-1 phonon mode, whereas in hexylammonium lead iodide, excitons interact with phonons with frequencies of 88 cm-1 and 137 cm-1. Using the determined optical phonon energies, we analyzed PL broadening mechanisms. At low temperatures (<100 K), the broadening is due to acoustic phonon scattering, whereas at high temperatures, LO phonon-exciton coupling is the dominant mechanism. Our results help explain the broad photoluminescence lineshapes observed in hybrid perovskite quantum wells and provide insights into the mechanism of exciton-phonon coupling in these materials.
Semiconductor heterostructures based on layered two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD) interfaced to gallium nitride (GaN) are excellent material systems to realize broadband light emitters and absorbers. The surface properties of the polar semiconductor, such as GaN are dominated by interface phonons, thus the optical properties of the vertical heterostructure depend strongly on the interface exciton-phonon coupling. The origin and activation of different Raman modes in the heterostructure due to coupling between interfacial phonons and optically generated carriers in a monolayer MoS2-GaN (0001) heterostructure was observed. This coupling strongly influences the non-equilibrium absorption properties of MoS2 and the emission properties of both semiconductors. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were performed to study the band alignment of the interface, which revealed a type-I heterostructure. The optical excitation with interband transition in MoS2 at K-point strongly modulates the C excitonic band in MoS2. The overlap of absorption and emission bands of GaN with the absorption bands of MoS2 induces the energy and charge transfer across the interface with an optical excitation at {Gamma}-point. A strong modulation of the excitonic absorption states is observed in MoS2 on GaN substrate with transient optical pump-probe spectroscopy. The interaction of carriers with phonons and defect states leads to the enhanced and blue shifted emission in MoS2 on GaN substrate. Our results demonstrate the relevance of interface coupling between phonons and carriers for the development of optical and electronic applications.