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Title: Dynamic Optical Tuning of Interlayer Interactions in the Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

Journal Article · · Nano Letters
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  1. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
  2. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
  4. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Wesleyan Univ., Middleton, CT (United States)
  5. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
  6. Univ. of Washington, Seattle, WA (United States)
  7. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States); Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States)
  8. SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
  9. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  10. Arizona State Univ., Tempe, AZ (United States)
  11. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  12. Univ. of Missouri, Columbia, MO (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Modulation of weak interlayer interactions between quasi-two-dimensional atomic planes in the transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) provides avenues for tuning their functional properties. Here we show that above-gap optical excitation in the TMDCs leads to an unexpected large-amplitude, ultrafast compressive force between the two-dimensional layers, as probed by in situ measurements of the atomic layer spacing at femtosecond time resolution. We show that this compressive response arises from a dynamic modulation of the interlayer van der Waals interaction and that this represents the dominant light-induced stress at low excitation densities. A simple analytic model predicts the magnitude and carrier density dependence of the measured strains. Furthermore, this work establishes a new method for dynamic, nonequilibrium tuning of correlation-driven dispersive interactions and of the optomechanical functionality of TMDC quasi-two-dimensional materials.

Research Organization:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC02-76SF00515; SC0012509
OSTI ID:
1457056
Journal Information:
Nano Letters, Journal Name: Nano Letters Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 17; ISSN 1530-6984
Publisher:
American Chemical SocietyCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (8)

Environmental engineering of transition metal dichalcogenide optoelectronics journal June 2018
Anisotropic structural dynamics of monolayer crystals revealed by femtosecond surface X-ray scattering journal March 2019
Cooperative inter- and intra-layer lattice dynamics of photoexcited multi-walled carbon nanotubes studied by ultrafast electron diffraction journal January 2018
The lifetime of interlayer breathing modes of few-layer 2H-MoSe 2 membranes journal January 2019
Vibrational and dielectric properties of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides journal July 2019
Scientific instrument Femtosecond X-ray Experiments (FXE): instrumentation and baseline experimental capabilities journal August 2019
Spatiotemporal light control with active metasurfaces journal May 2019
Atomic-scale imaging of ultrafast materials dynamics journal July 2018

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Related Subjects

2D materials
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
Casimir effect
femtosecond X-ray scattering
interlayer van der Waals interactions
ultrafast