# Imparity in valley population for single layer transition metal dichalcogenides under elliptical polarization

## TL;DR

This paper demonstrates how elliptically polarized light induces valley population imbalance in single-layer transition metal dichalcogenides, leading to tunable valley Hall currents and circular dichroism effects influenced by surface imperfections.

## Contribution

It introduces a model showing ellipticity-dependent valley excitation rates and resulting valley Hall effects, incorporating surface imperfections via self-consistent Born approximation.

## Key findings

- Elliptically polarized light causes differential valley excitation.
- Valley Hall current can be externally tuned by light ellipticity.
- Circular dichroism near valley edges depends on ellipticity.

## Abstract

The illumination of a single-layer transition metal dichalcogenide with an elliptically-polarized light beam is shown to give rise to a differential rate of inter-band carrier excitation between the valence and conduction states around the valley edges, $ K $ and $ K^{'} $. This rate with a linear dependence on the beam ellipticity and inverse of the optical gap manifests as an asymmetric Fermi distribution between the valleys or a non-equilibrium population which under an external field and a Berry curvature induced anomalous velocity results in an externally tunable finite valley Hall current. Surface imperfections that influence the excitation rates are included through the self-consistent Born approximation. Additionally, we show that circular dichroism in the vicinity of the valley edges also exhibits an ellipticity dependence.