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Phonon Screening of Excitons in Atomically Thin Semiconductors

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
  2. NASA Ames Research Center (ARC), Moffett Field, Mountain View, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
  4. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
  5. Univ. of Oxford (United Kingdom)
  6. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); University of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Atomically thin semiconductors, encompassing both 2D materials and quantum wells, exhibit a pronounced enhancement of excitonic effects due to geometric confinement. Consequently, these materials have become foundational platforms for the exploration and utilization of excitons. Recent ab initio studies have demonstrated that phonons can substantially screen electron-hole interactions in bulk semiconductors and strongly modify the properties of excitons. While excitonic properties of atomically thin semiconductors have been the subject of extensive theoretical investigations, the role of phonon screening on excitons in atomically thin structures remains unexplored. In this Letter, we demonstrate via ab initio 𝐺⁡𝑊-Bethe-Salpeter equation calculations that phonon screening can have a significant impact on optical excitations in atomically thin semiconductors. We further show that the degree of phonon screening can be tuned by structural engineering. We focus on atomically thin GaN quantum wells embedded in AlN and identify specific phonons in the surrounding material, AlN, that dramatically alter the lowest-lying exciton in monolayer GaN via screening. In conclusion, our studies provide new intuition beyond standard models into the interplay among structural properties, phonon characteristics, and exciton properties in atomically thin semiconductors, and have implications for future experiments.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division (MSE); National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities (SUF); UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0020129; AC02-05CH11231; SC0012704
OSTI ID:
2571376
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters, Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Issue: 20 Vol. 133; ISSN 1079-7114; ISSN 0031-9007
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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