We show that band topology can dramatically change the photophysics of two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors. For systems in which states near the band extrema are of multiple orbitals character and the spinors describing the orbital components (pseudospins) pick up nonzero winding numbers (topological invariants) around the extremal k-point, the optical strength and nature (i.e., helicity) of the excitonic states are dictated by the optical matrix element winding number, a unique and heretofore unrecognized characteristic. We illustrate these findings in three gapped graphene systems - monolayer graphene with inequivalent sublattices and biased bi- and tri-layer graphene, where the pseudospin textures manifest into a unique optical matrix element winding pattern associated with different valley and photon circular polarization. This winding-number physics leads to novel exciton series and optical selection rules, with each valley hosting multiple bright excitons coupled to light of different helicity. This valley-exciton selective circular dichroism can be unambiguously detected using optical spectroscopy.
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