Quantum Geometric Exciton Drift Velocity

TL;DR

This paper reveals how the quantum geometry of exciton eigenstates determines their dipole moments and influences their semiclassical dynamics, leading to novel exciton drift behaviors and potential applications in excitonic devices.

Contribution

It introduces the Quantum Geometric Dipole (QGD) concept, linking quantum geometry to exciton drift velocity and analyzing its effects in various bilayer systems.

Findings

QGD affects exciton drift in electric fields

QGD vanishes for identical layers, non-zero for different layers

Exciton properties vary with magnetic field and heterostructure composition

Abstract

We show that the dipole moment of an exciton is uniquely determined by the quantum geometry of its eigenstates, and demonstrate its intimate connection with a quantity we call the Quantum Geometric Dipole (QGD). The QGD arises naturally in semiclassical dynamics of an exciton in an electric field, contributing to the anomalous velocity differently from the Berry's curvature. In a uniform electric field QGD results in a drift velocity akin to that expected for excitons in crossed electric and magnetic fields, even in the absence of a real magnetic field. We compute the quantities relevant to semiclassical exciton dynamics for several interesting examples of bilayer systems with weak interlayer tunneling and Fermi energy in a gap, where the exciton may be sensibly described as a two-body problem. These quantities include the exciton dispersion, its QGD, and Berry's curvature. For two gapped-graphene layers in a vanishing magnetic field, we find the Quantum Geometric Dipole vanishes if the layers are identical, but may be non-zero when the layers differ. We further analyze examples in the presence of magnetic fields, allowing us to examine cases involving graphene, in which a gap is opened by Landau level splitting. Heterostructures involving TMDs are also considered. In each case the Quantum Geometric Dipole and Berry's curvatures play out differently. In some cases, the lowest energy exciton state is found to reside at finite momentum, with interesting possibilities for Bose condensation. We also find situations in which the QGD increases monotonically with exciton momentum, suggesting that the quantum geometry can be exploited to produce photocurrents from initially bound excitons with electric fields. We speculate on further possible effects of the semiclassical dynamics in geometries where the constituent layers are subject to the same or different electric fields.