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Register a new userCarrier recombination mechanism at defects in wide band gap two-dimensional materials from first principles
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Identification and design of defects in two-dimensional (2D) materials as promising single photon emitters (SPE) requires a deep understanding of underlying carrier recombination mechanisms. Yet, the dominant mechanism of carrier recombination at defects in 2D materials has not been well understood, and some outstanding questions remain: How do recombination processes at defects differ between 2D and 3D systems? What factors determine defects in 2D materials as excellent SPE at room temperature? In order to address these questions, we developed first-principles methods to accurately calculate the radiative and non-radiative recombination rates at defects in 2D materials, using h-BN as a prototypical example. We reveal the carrier recombination mechanism at defects in 2D materials being mostly dominated by defect-defect state recombination in contrast to defect-bulk state recombination in most 3D semiconductors. In particular, we disentangle the non-radiative recombination mechanism into key physical quantities: zero-phonon line (ZPL) and Huang-Rhys factor. At the end, we identified strain can effectively tune the electron-phonon coupling at defect centers and drastically change non-radiative recombination rates. Our theoretical development serves as a general platform for understanding carrier recombination at defects in 2D materials, while providing pathways for engineering of quantum efficiency of SPE.
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Materials combining both a high refractive index and a wide band gap are of great interest for optoelectronic and sensor applications. However, these two properties are typically described by an inverse correlation with high refractive index appearing in small gap materials and vice-versa. Here, we conduct a first-principles high-throughput study on more than 4000 semiconductors (with a special focus on oxides). Our data confirm the general inverse trend between refractive index and band gap but interesting outliers are also identified. The data are then analyzed through a simple model involving two main descriptors: the average optical gap and the effective frequency. The former can be determined directly from the electronic structure of the compounds, but the latter cannot. This calls for further analysis in order to obtain a predictive model. Nonetheless, it turns out that the negative effect of a large band gap on the refractive index can counterbalanced in two ways: (i) by limiting the difference between the direct band gap and the average optical gap which can be realized by a narrow distribution in energy of the optical transitions and (ii) by increasing the effective frequency which can be achieved through either a high number of transitions from the top of the valence band to the bottom of the conduction or a high average probability for these transitions. Focusing on oxides, we use our data to investigate how the chemistry influences this inverse relationship and rationalize why certain classes of materials would perform better. Our findings can be used to search for new compounds in many optical applications both in the linear and non-linear regime (waveguides, optical modulators, laser, frequency converter, etc.).
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Two-dimensional (2D) materials are strongly affected by the dielectric environment including substrates, making it an important factor in designing materials for quantum and electronic technologies. Yet, first-principles evaluation of charged defect energetics in 2D materials typically do not include substrates due to the high computational cost. We present a general continuum model approach to incorporate substrate effects directly in density-functional theory calculations of charged defects in the 2D material alone. We show that this technique accurately predicts charge defect energies compared to much more expensive explicit substrate calculations, but with the computational expediency of calculating defects in free-standing 2D materials. Using this technique, we rapidly predict the substantial modification of charge transition levels of two defects in MoS$_2$ and ten defects promising for quantum technologies in hBN, due to SiO$_2$ and diamond substrates. This establishes a foundation for high-throughput computational screening of new quantum defects in 2D materials that critically accounts for substrate effects.
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