Dynamical polarization and the optical response of silicene and related materials

TL;DR

This paper investigates the dynamical polarization, optical response, and plasmonic behavior of silicene and related materials like MoS2 and black phosphorus, highlighting their potential for optoelectronic applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive first-principles analysis of the optical properties, including dielectric function and absorption, and explores anisotropic effects and plasmon damping mechanisms.

Findings

Dynamical polarization and dielectric function depend on chemical potential relative to the band gap.

Identification of plasmon damping into electron-hole pairs and formation of spin/valley polarized pairs.

Anisotropic optical responses influenced by warping, impurities, and polarized light.

Abstract

We discuss the dynamical polarization, optical response in low-frequency regime under in-plane polarized driving field of the silicene. The dynamical polarization, dielectric function, and absorption of radiation in infrared region are obtained and shown in the ${\bf q}\sim\omega$ space, and they are distinguishing for the cases of chemical potential larger than the band gap and smaller than the band gap. The optical properties of silicene and the related group-V and group-VI materials: MoS$_{2}$ and black phosphorus are explored through the first-principle study. The plasmon which damped into the electron-hole pair in the single-particle excitation regime is also mentioned. The spin/valley polarized electron-hole pairs can be formed through that way, especially for the high-energy $\pi$-plasmon which begin to damp at the small ${\bf q}$-limit. The anisotropic effects induced by the warping structure or charged impurity, and the anisotropic polarization induced by the polarized incident light are also discussed. Our result exhibits the great potential in the optoelectronic applications of the materials we discussed.