Excitonic linewidth approaching the homogeneous limit in MoS2-based van der Waals heterostructures

F. Cadiz, E. Courtade, C. Robert, G. Wang, Y. Shen, H. Cai, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, H. Carrere, D. Lagarde, M. Manca, T. Amand, P. Renucci, S. Tongay, X. Marie, B. Urbaszek

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

515 Scopus citations

Abstract

The strong light-matter interaction and the valley selective optical selection rules make monolayer (ML) MoS2 an exciting 2D material for fundamental physics and optoelectronics applications. But, so far, optical transition linewidths even at low temperature are typically as large as a few tens of meVand contain homogeneous and inhomogeneous contributions. This prevented in-depth studies, in contrast to the bettercharacterized ML materials MoSe2 and WSe2. In this work, we show that encapsulation of ML MoS2 in hexagonal boron nitride can efficiently suppress the inhomogeneous contribution to the exciton linewidth, as we measure in photoluminescence and reflectivity a FWHM down to 2 meVat T = 4 K. Narrow optical transition linewidths are also observed in encapsulated WS2, WSe2, and MoSe2 MLs. This indicates that surface protection and substrate flatness are key ingredients for obtaining stable, high-quality samples. Among the new possibilities offered by the well-defined optical transitions, we measure the homogeneous broadening induced by the interaction with phonons in temperature-dependent experiments. We uncover new information on spin and valley physics and present the rotation of valley coherence in applied magnetic fields perpendicular to the ML.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number021026
JournalPhysical Review X
Volume7
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - May 18 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Condensed matter physics
  • Materials science
  • Spintronics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy

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