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Title: Approaching the intrinsic photoluminescence linewidth in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers

Abstract

Excitonic states in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have been the subject of extensive recent interest. Their intrinsic properties can, however, be obscured due to the influence of inhomogeneity in the external environment. Here we report methods for fabricating high quality TMDC monolayers with narrow photoluminescence (PL) linewidth approaching the intrinsic limit. We find that encapsulation in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) sharply reduces the PL linewidth, and that passivation of the oxide substrate by an alkyl monolayer further decreases the linewidth and also minimizes the charged exciton (trion) peak. The combination of these sample preparation methods results in much reduced spatial variation in the PL emission, with a full-width-at-half-maximum as low as 1.7 meV. Furthermore, analysis of the PL line shape yields a homogeneous width of 1.43 ± 0.08 meV and inhomogeneous broadening of 1.1 ± 0.3 meV.

Authors:
 [1];  [1];  [2];  [1];  [1];  [3];  [3];  [4];  [2];  [1];  [1]
  1. Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States)
  2. Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ (United States)
  3. National Institute for Materials Science, Tsukuba (Japan)
  4. Stanford Univ., Stanford, CA (United States); SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1374378
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515; DMR-1420634; ECCS-MRI-1531237; DMR-1608437; DMR-1506711
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
2D Materials
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 4; Journal Issue: 3; Journal ID: ISSN 2053-1583
Publisher:
IOP Publishing
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; transition metal dichalcogenides; photoluminescence; line width

Citation Formats

Ajayi, Obafunso A., Ardelean, Jenny V., Shepard, Gabriella D., Wang, Jue, Antony, Abhinandan, Taniguchi, Takeshi, Watanabe, Kenji, Heinz, Tony F., Strauf, Stefan, Zhu, X-Y, and Hone, James C. Approaching the intrinsic photoluminescence linewidth in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1088/2053-1583/aa6aa1.
Ajayi, Obafunso A., Ardelean, Jenny V., Shepard, Gabriella D., Wang, Jue, Antony, Abhinandan, Taniguchi, Takeshi, Watanabe, Kenji, Heinz, Tony F., Strauf, Stefan, Zhu, X-Y, & Hone, James C. Approaching the intrinsic photoluminescence linewidth in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/aa6aa1
Ajayi, Obafunso A., Ardelean, Jenny V., Shepard, Gabriella D., Wang, Jue, Antony, Abhinandan, Taniguchi, Takeshi, Watanabe, Kenji, Heinz, Tony F., Strauf, Stefan, Zhu, X-Y, and Hone, James C. Mon . "Approaching the intrinsic photoluminescence linewidth in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/aa6aa1. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1374378.
@article{osti_1374378,
title = {Approaching the intrinsic photoluminescence linewidth in transition metal dichalcogenide monolayers},
author = {Ajayi, Obafunso A. and Ardelean, Jenny V. and Shepard, Gabriella D. and Wang, Jue and Antony, Abhinandan and Taniguchi, Takeshi and Watanabe, Kenji and Heinz, Tony F. and Strauf, Stefan and Zhu, X-Y and Hone, James C.},
abstractNote = {Excitonic states in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have been the subject of extensive recent interest. Their intrinsic properties can, however, be obscured due to the influence of inhomogeneity in the external environment. Here we report methods for fabricating high quality TMDC monolayers with narrow photoluminescence (PL) linewidth approaching the intrinsic limit. We find that encapsulation in hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) sharply reduces the PL linewidth, and that passivation of the oxide substrate by an alkyl monolayer further decreases the linewidth and also minimizes the charged exciton (trion) peak. The combination of these sample preparation methods results in much reduced spatial variation in the PL emission, with a full-width-at-half-maximum as low as 1.7 meV. Furthermore, analysis of the PL line shape yields a homogeneous width of 1.43 ± 0.08 meV and inhomogeneous broadening of 1.1 ± 0.3 meV.},
doi = {10.1088/2053-1583/aa6aa1},
journal = {2D Materials},
number = 3,
volume = 4,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Jul 24 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Jul 24 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

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