Localized excitons play a vital role in the optical response of monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides and can be exploited as single photon sources for quantum information technology. While the optical properties of such localized excitons are vastly studied, the ultrafast capture process of delocalized excitons into localized potentials is largely unexplored. We perform quantum kinetic calculations of exciton capture via acoustic and optical phonons showing that efficient capture takes place on an ultrafast time scale. The polaron formation in the low-temperature limit leads to higher-energy excitons which can then be efficiently trapped. We demonstrate that the interplay of acoustic and optical phonons leads to an efficient broadening of energy-selection rules. Our studies provide a deep understanding of the carrier trapping from two-dimensional materials into zero-dimensional potentials.
Monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been established in the last years as promising materials for novel optoelectronic devices. However, the performance of such devices is often limited by the dissociation of tightly bound excitons into free electrons and holes. While previous studies have investigated tunneling at large electric fields, we focus in this work on phonon-assisted exciton dissociation that is expected to be the dominant mechanism at small fields. We present a microscopic model based on the density matrix formalism providing access to time- and momentum-resolved exciton dynamics including phonon-assisted dissociation. We track the pathway of excitons from optical excitation via thermalization to dissociation, identifying the main transitions and dissociation channels. Furthermore, we find intrinsic limits for the quantum efficiency and response time of a TMD-based photodetector and investigate their tunability with externally accessible knobs, such as excitation energy, substrate screening, temperature and strain. Our work provides microscopic insights in fundamental mechanisms behind exciton dissociation and can serve as a guide for the optimization of TMD-based optoelectronic devices.
Embedding a monolayer of a transition metal dichalcogenide in a high-Q optical cavity results in the formation of distinct exciton polariton modes. The polaritons are affected by the strong exciton-phonon interaction in the monolayer. We use a time convolutionless master equation to calculate the phonon influence on the spectra of the polaritons. We discuss the non-trivial dependence of the line shapes of both branches on temperature and detuning. The peculiar polariton dispersion relation results in a linewidth of the lower polariton being largely independent of the coupling to acoustic phonons. For the upper polariton, acoustic phonons lead to a low-energy shoulder of the resonance in the linear response. Furthermore, we analyze the influence of inhomogeneous broadening being the dominant contribution to the lower polariton linewidth at low temperatures. Our results point towards interesting phonon features in polariton spectra in transition metal dichalcogenides.
Excitons dominate the optical properties of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs). Besides optically accessible bright exciton states, TMDs exhibit also a multitude of optically forbidden dark excitons. Here, we show that efficient exciton-phonon scattering couples bright and dark states and gives rise to an asymmetric excitonic line shape. The observed asymmetry can be traced back to phonon-induced sidebands that are accompanied by a polaron redshift. We present a joint theory-experiment study investigating the microscopic origin of these sidebands in different TMD materials taking into account intra- and intervalley scattering channels opened by optical and acoustic phonons. The gained insights contribute to a better understanding of the optical fingerprint of these technologically promising nanomaterials.
The exceptionally strong Coulomb interaction in semiconducting transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) gives rise to a rich exciton landscape consisting of bright and dark exciton states. At elevated densities, excitons can interact through exciton-exciton annihilation (EEA), an Auger-like recombination process limiting the efficiency of optoelectronic applications. Although EEA is a well-known and particularly important process in atomically thin semiconductors determining exciton lifetimes and affecting transport at elevated densities, its microscopic origin has remained elusive. In this joint theory-experiment study combining microscopic and material-specific theory with time- and temperature-resolved photoluminescence measurements, we demonstrate the key role of dark intervalley states that are found to dominate the EEA rate in monolayer WSe$_2$. We reveal an intriguing, characteristic temperature dependence of Auger scattering in this class of materials with an excellent agreement between theory and experiment. Our study provides microscopic insights into the efficiency of technologically relevant Auger scattering channels within the remarkable exciton landscape of atomically thin semiconductors.
Due to the Coulomb interaction exciton eignestates in monolayer transitional metal dichalcogenides are coherent superposition of two valleys. The exciton band which couples to the transverse electric mode of light has parabolic dispersion for the center of mass momentum, whereas the one which couples to the transverse magnetic mode has both parabolic and linear components. In this work we present an experimental proposal to observe the signatures of linear component of the dispersion. In particular, it is demonstrated that by pumping the system with linearly polarized light the exciton transport is anisotropic compared to circularly polarized pump. We show that the results persist for moderate level of disorder present in realistic systems. Finally, we demonstrate that similar effects can be obtained for positively detuned exciton-polaritons, in less stringent experimental requirements compared to bare exciton case.