Fabricating van der Waals (vdW) bilayer heterostructures (BL-HS) by stacking the same or different two-dimensional (2D) layers, offers a unique physical system with rich electronic and optical properties. Twist-angle between component layers has emer
ged as a remarkable parameter that can control the period of lateral confinement, and nature of the exciton (Coulomb bound electron-hole pair) in reciprocal space thus creating exotic physical states including moire excitons. In this review article, we focus on opto-electronic properties of excitons in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductor twisted BL-HS. We look at existing evidence of moire excitons in localized and strongly correlated states, and at nanoscale mapping of moire superlattice and lattice-reconstruction. This review will be helpful in guiding the community as well as motivating work in areas such as near-field optical measurements and controlling the creation of novel physical states.
In van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures formed by stacking two monolayer semiconductors, lattice mismatch or rotational misalignment introduces an in-plane moire superlattice. While it is widely recognized that a moire superlattice can modulate the e
lectronic band structure and lead to novel transport properties including unconventional superconductivity and insulating behavior driven by correlations, its influence on optical properties has not been investigated experimentally. We present spectroscopic evidence that interlayer excitons are confined by the moire potential in a high-quality MoSe2/WSe2 heterobilayer with small rotational twist. A series of interlayer exciton resonances with either positive or negative circularly polarized emission is observed in photoluminescence, consistent with multiple exciton states confined within the moire potential. The recombination dynamics and temperature dependence of these interlayer exciton resonances are consistent with this interpretation. These results demonstrate the feasibility of engineering artificial excitonic crystals using vdW heterostructures for nanophotonics and quantum information applications.
We report charged exciton (trion) formation dynamics in doped monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), specifically molybdenum diselenide (MoSe2), using resonant two-color pump-probe spectroscopy. When resonantly pumping the exciton transit
ion, trions are generated on a picosecond timescale through exciton-electron interaction. As the pump energy is tuned from the high energy to low energy side of the inhomogeneously broadened exciton resonance, the trion formation time increases by ~ 50%. This feature can be explained by the existence of both localized and delocalized excitons in a disordered potential and suggests the existence of an exciton mobility edge in TMDs. The quasiparticle formation and conversion processes are important for interpreting photoluminescence and photoconductivity in TMDs.
