82 research outputs found
Nonlinear Photoluminescence in Atomically Thin Layered WSe2 Arising from Diffusion-Assisted Exciton-Exciton Annihilation
We studied multi-exciton dynamics in monolayer WSe2 using nonlinear
photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and Monte Carlo simulations. We observed
strong nonlinear saturation behavior of exciton PL with increasing excitation
power density, and long-distance exciton diffusion reaching several
micrometers. We demonstrated that the diffusion-assisted exciton-exciton
annihilation model accounts for the observed nonlinear PL behavior. The
long-distance exciton diffusion and subsequent efficient exciton-exciton
annihilation process determined the unusual multi-exciton dynamics in
atomically thin layered transition metal dichalcogenides
Nonlinear magnetotransport shaped by Fermi surface topology and convexity in WTe2
The nature of Fermi surface defines the physical properties of conductors and
many physical phenomena can be traced to its shape. Although the recent
discovery of a current-dependent nonlinear magnetoresistance in spin-polarized
non-magnetic materials has attracted considerable attention in spintronics,
correlations between this phenomenon and the underlying fermiology remain
unexplored. Here, we report the observation of nonlinear magnetoresistance at
room temperature in a semimetal WTe2, with an interesting temperature-driven
inversion. Theoretical calculations reproduce the nonlinear transport
measurements and allow us to attribute the inversion to temperature-induced
changes in Fermi surface convexity. We also report a large anisotropy of
nonlinear magnetoresistance in WTe2, due to its low symmetry of Fermi surfaces.
The good agreement between experiments and theoretical modeling reveals the
critical role of Fermi surface topology and convexity on the nonlinear
magneto-response. These results lay a new path to explore ramifications of
distinct fermiology for nonlinear transport in condensed-matter
Measuring valley polarization in two-dimensional materials with second-harmonic spectroscopy
A population imbalance at different valleys of an electronic system lowers
its effective rotational symmetry. We introduce a technique to measure such
imbalance - a valley polarization - that exploits the unique fingerprints of
this symmetry reduction in the polarization-dependent second-harmonic
generation (SHG). We present the principle and detection scheme in the context
of hexagonal two-dimensional crystals, which include graphene-based systems and
the family of transition metal dichalcogenides, and provide a direct
experimental demonstration using a 2H-MoSe monolayer at room temperature.
We deliberately use the simplest possible setup, where a single pulsed laser
beam simultaneously controls the valley imbalance and tracks the SHG process.
We further developed a model of the transient population dynamics which
analytically describes the valley-induced SHG rotation in very good agreement
with the experiment. In addition to providing the first experimental
demonstration of the effect, this work establishes a conceptually simple,
com-pact and transferable way of measuring instantaneous valley polarization,
with direct applicability in the nascent field of valleytronics
Transient magneto-optical spectrum of photoexcited electrons in the van der Waals ferromagnet Cr2Ge2Te6
Femtosecond optical control of magnetic materials shows promise for future ultrafast data storage devices. To date, most studies in this area have relied on quasimonochromatic light in magneto-optical pump-probe experiments, which limited their ability to probe semiconducting and molecule-based materials with structured optical spectra. Here, we demonstrate the possibility of extracting the magneto-optical spectrum of the electrons in the conduction band in the two-dimensional van der Waals ferromagnet Cr2Ge2Te6 (CGT), which is made possible due to broadband probing in the visible spectrum. The magneto-optical signal is a sum of contributions from electrons in the conduction and valence bands, which are of opposite sign for CGT. Depending on the probe wavelength used, this difference could lead to an erroneous interpretation that the magnetization direction is reversed after excitation, which has important consequences for understanding spin toggle switching phenomena
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