Efficient exciton-exciton annihilation of dark excitons in atomically-thin TMDs

Optical properties of dark excitons in transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have been received lots of attention due to its significant role in fundamental properties of exciton physics. Here, we demonstrate up-converted photoluminescence (PL) in n-layer WSe2 (n > 2) through exciton-exciton annihilation of dark excitons. Few-layer WSe2 were mechanically exfoliated onto silicon substrates with 285-nm-thick SiO2 using a dry transfer technique. We performed low-temperature micro-PL measurement, showing a significant PL signal where the photo energy of up-converted excitons overlaps with that of D-exciton. We also show that up-conversion process in few-layer WSe2 is dominated by exciton-exciton annihilation, which is different in contrast to the Auger recombination in Bulk WSe2. The finding is a universal phenomenon among different few-layer TMDs, including MoS2, MoSe2, and WS2.

About the presenter

Yi-Hsen Chen is a PhD student at Monash University with CI Michael Fuhrer. He researches Bose-Einstein condensates using devices constructed using 2D materials, as part of FLEET’s Research Theme 2, Exciton Superfluids.