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Being used in optoelectronic devices as ultra-thin conductor-insulator junctions, detailed investigations are needed about how exactly h-BN and graphene hybridize. Here, we present a comprehensive ab initio study of hot carrier dynamics governed by electron-phonon scattering at the h-BN/graphene interface, using graphite (bulk), monolayer and bilayer graphene as benchmark materials. In contrast to monolayer graphene, all multilayer structures possess low-energy optical phonon modes that facilitate carrier thermalization. We find that the h-BN/graphene interface represents an exception with comparatively weak coupling between low-energy optical phonons and electrons. As a consequence, the thermalization bottleneck effect, known from graphene, survives hybridization with h-BN but is substantially reduced in all other bilayer and multilayer cases considered. In addition, we show that the quantum confinement in bilayer graphene does not have a significant influence on the thermalization time compared to graphite and that bilayer graphene can hence serve as a minimal model for the bulk counterpart.
Electrochemical intercalation is a powerful method for tuning the electronic properties of layered solids. In this work, we report an electro-chemical strategy to controllably intercalate lithium ions into a series of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures built by sandwiching graphene between hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN). We demonstrate that encapsulating graphene with h-BN eliminates parasitic surface side reactions while simultaneously creating a new hetero-interface that permits intercalation between the atomically thin layers. To monitor the electrochemical process, we employ the Hall effect to precisely monitor the intercalation reaction. We also simultaneously probe the spectroscopic and electrical transport properties of the resulting intercalation compounds at different stages of intercalation. We achieve the highest carrier density $> 5 times 10^{13} cm^{-2}$ with mobility $> 10^3 cm^2/(Vs)$ in the most heavily intercalated samples, where Shubnikov-de Haas quantum oscillations are observed at low temperatures. These results set the stage for further studies that employ intercalation in modifying properties of vdW heterostructures.
Van der Waals materials can be easily combined in lateral and vertical heterostructures, providing an outstanding platform to engineer elusive quantum states of matter. However, a critical problem in material science is to establish tangible links between real materials properties and terms that can be cooked up on the model Hamiltonian level to realize different exotic phenomena. Our review aims to do precisely this: we first discuss, in a way accessible to the materials community, what ingredients need to be included in the hybrid quantum materials recipe, and second, we elaborate on the specific materials that would possess the necessary qualities. We will review the well-established procedures for realizing 2D topological superconductors, quantum spin-liquids and flat bands systems, emphasizing the connection between well-known model Hamiltonians and real compounds. We will use the most recent experimental results to illustrate the power of the designer approach.
Graphene constitutes one of the key elements in many functional van der Waals heterostructures. However, it has negligible optical visibility due to its monolayer nature. Here we study the visibility of graphene in various van der Waals heterostructures and include the effects of the source spectrum, oblique incidence and the spectral sensitivity of the detector to obtain a realistic model. A visibility experiment is performed at different wavelengths, resulting in a very good agreement with our calculations. This allows us to reliably predict the conditions for better visibility of graphene in van der Waals heterostructures. The framework and the codes provided in this work can be extended to study the visibility of any 2D material within an arbitrary van der Waals heterostructure.
The development of van der Waals (vdW) crystals and their heterostructures has created a fascinating platform for exploring optoelectronic properties in the two-dimensional (2D) limit. With the recent discovery of 2D magnets, the control of the spin degree of freedom can be integrated to realize 2D spin-optoelectronics with spontaneous time-reversal symmetry breaking. Here, we report spin photovoltaic effects in vdW heterostructures of atomically thin magnet chromium triiodide (CrI3) sandwiched by graphene contacts. In the absence of a magnetic field, the photocurrent displays a distinct dependence on light helicity, which can be tuned by varying the magnetic states and photon energy. Circular polarization-resolved absorption measurements reveal that these observations originate from magnetic-order-coupled and thus helicity-dependent charge-transfer exciton states. The photocurrent displays multiple plateaus as the magnetic field is swept, which are associated with different spin configurations enabled by the layered antiferromagnetism and spin-flip transitions in CrI3. Remarkably, giant photo-magnetocurrent is observed, which tends to infinity for a small applied bias. Our results pave the way to explore emergent photo-spintronics by engineering magnetic vdW heterostructures.
Vertically stacked van der Waals heterostructures are a lucrative platform for exploring the rich electronic and optoelectronic phenomena in two-dimensional materials. Their performance will be strongly affected by impurities and defects at the interfaces. Here we present the first systematic study of interfaces in van der Waals heterostructure using cross sectional scanning transmission electron microscope (STEM) imaging. By measuring interlayer separations and comparing these to density functional theory (DFT) calculations we find that pristine interfaces exist between hBN and MoS2 or WS2 for stacks prepared by mechanical exfoliation in air. However, for two technologically important transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) systems, MoSe2 and WSe2, our measurement of interlayer separations provide the first evidence for impurity species being trapped at buried interfaces with hBN: interfaces which are flat at the nanometer length scale. While decreasing the thickness of encapsulated WSe2 from bulk to monolayer we see a systematic increase in the interlayer separation. We attribute these differences to the thinnest TMDC flakes being flexible and hence able to deform mechanically around a sparse population of protruding interfacial impurities. We show that the air sensitive two dimensional (2D) crystal NbSe2 can be fabricated into heterostructures with pristine interfaces by processing in an inert-gas environment. Finally we find that adopting glove-box transfer significantly improves the quality of interfaces for WSe2 compared to processing in air.