No Arabic abstract
Superconductors at the atomic two-dimensional (2D) limit are the focus of an enduring fascination in the condensed matter community. This is because, with reduced dimensions, the effects of disorders, fluctuations, and correlations in superconductors become particularly prominent at the atomic 2D limit; thus such superconductors provide opportunities to tackle tough theoretical and experimental challenges. Here, based on the observation of ultrathin 2D superconductivity in mono- and bilayer molybdenum disulfide (MoS$_2$) with electric-double-layer (EDL) gating, we found that the critical sheet carrier density required to achieve superconductivity in a monolayer MoS$_2$ flake can be as low as 0.55*10$^{14}$cm$^{-2}$, which is much lower than those values in the bilayer and thicker cases in previous report and also our own observations. Further comparison of the phonon dispersion obtained by ab initio calculations indicated that the phonon softening of the acoustic modes around the M point plays a key role in the gate-induced superconductivity within the Bardeen-Cooper Schrieffer (BCS) theory framework. This result might help enrich the understanding of 2D superconductivity with EDL gating.
The interaction of electron-hole pairs with lattice vibrations exhibits a wealth of intriguing physical phenomena. The Kohn anomaly is a renowned example where electron-phonon coupling leads to non-analytic phonon dispersion at specific momentum nesting the Fermi surface. Here we report evidence of another type of phonon anomaly discovered by low temperature Raman spectroscopy in bilayer graphene where the charge density is modulated by the electric field effect. This anomaly, arising from charge-tunable modulations of particle-hole pairs that are resonantly coupled to lattice vibrations, is predicted to exhibit a logarithmic divergence in the long-wavelength optical-phonon energy. In a non-uniform bilayer of graphene, the logarithmic divergence is abated by charge density inhomogeneity leaving as a vestige an anomalous phonon softening. The observed softening marks the first confirmation of the phonon anomaly as a key signature of the resonant deformation-potential electron-phonon coupling. The high sensitivity of the phonon softening to charge density non-uniformity creates significant venues to explore the interplay between fundamental interactions and disorder in the atomic layers.
The interaction of intralayer and interlayer excitons is studied in a two-dimensional semiconductor, homobilayer MoS$_2$. It is shown that the measured optical susceptibility reveals both the magnitude and the sign of the coupling constants. The interlayer exciton interacts capacitively with the intralayer B-exciton (positive coupling constant) consistent with hole tunnelling from one monolayer to the other. Conversely, the interlayer exciton interacts inductively with the intralayer A-exciton (negative coupling constant). First-principles many-body calculations show that this coupling arises via an intravalley exchange-interaction of A- and B-excitons.
The low-energy band structure of few-layer MoS$_2$ is relevant for a large variety of experiments ranging from optics to electronic transport. Its characterization remains challenging due to complex multi band behavior. We investigate the conduction band of dual-gated three-layer MoS$_2$ by means of magnetotransport experiments. The total carrier density is tuned by voltages applied between MoS$_2$ and both top and bottom gate electrodes. For asymmetrically biased top and bottom gates, electrons accumulate in the layer closest to the positively biased electrode. In this way, the three-layer MoS$_2$ can be tuned to behave electronically like a monolayer. In contrast, applying a positive voltage on both gates leads to the occupation of all three layers. Our analysis of the Shubnikov--de Haas oscillations originating from different bands lets us attribute the corresponding carrier densities in the top and bottom layers. We find a twofold Landau level degeneracy for each band, suggesting that the minima of the conduction band lie at the $pm K$ points of the first Brillouin zone. This is in contrast to band structure calculations for zero layer asymmetry, which report minima at the $Q$ points. Even though the interlayer tunnel coupling seems to leave the low-energy conduction band unaffected, we observe scattering of electrons between the outermost layers for zero layer asymmetry. The middle layer remains decoupled due to the spin-valley symmetry, which is inverted for neighboring layers. When the bands of the outermost layers are energetically in resonance, interlayer scattering takes place, leading to an enhanced resistance and to magneto-interband oscillations.
We analyze the lineshape of the quasiparticle photoluminescence of monolayer and bilayer molybdenum ditelluride in temperature- and excitation intensity-dependent experiments. We confirm the existence of a negatively charged trion in the bilayer based on its emission characteristics and find hints for a coexistence of intra- and interlayer trions with a few meV splitting in energy. From the lineshape analysis of exciton and trion emission we extract values for exciton and trion deformation potentials as well as acoustical and optical phonon-limited mobilities in MoTe2, with the mobilities showing the highest values so far reported for transition metal dichalcogenides.
In the emerging world of twisted bilayer structures, the possible configurations are limitless, which enables for a rich landscape of electronic properties. In this paper, we focus on twisted bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) and study its properties by means of an accurate tight-binding model. We build structures with different angles and find that the so-called flatbands emerge when the twist angle is sufficiently small (around 7.3$^{circ}$). Interestingly, the band gap can be tuned up to a 2.2% (51 meV) when the twist angle in the relaxed sample varies from 21.8$^{circ}$ to 0.8$^{circ}$. Furthermore, when looking at local density of states we find that the band gap varies locally along the moir`e pattern due to the change in the coupling between layers at different sites. Finally, we also find that the system can suffer a transition from a semiconductor to a metal when a sufficiently strong electric field is applied. Our study can serve as a guide for the practical engineering of the TMDCs based optoelectronic devices.