Optical read-out of Coulomb staircases in a moir\'e superlattice via trapped interlayer trions

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates an optical method to visualize and analyze Coulomb staircase phenomena in moiré superlattices using trapped interlayer trions as sensitive probes of local carrier filling and interactions.

Contribution

It introduces a novel optical technique employing trapped interlayer excitons to map and study Coulomb interactions and charge states in moiré superlattices.

Findings

Trapped interlayer excitons serve as sensitive local probes.

Coulomb staircase observed as stepwise energy shifts.

Technique complements existing methods for characterizing moiré systems.

Abstract

Moir\'e patterns with a superlattice potential can be formed by vertically stacking two layered materials with a relative twist or lattice constant mismatch. The moir\'e superlattice can generate flat bands that result in new correlated insulating, superconducting, and topological states. Strong electron correlations, tunable by the fractional filling, have been observed in both graphene and transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) based systems. In addition, in TMD based systems, the moir\'e potential landscape can trap interlayer excitons (IX) at specific atomic registries. Here we report that spatially isolated trapped IX in a molybdenum diselenide/tungsten diselenide heterobilayer device provide a sensitive optical probe of carrier filling in their immediate environment. By mapping the spatial positions of individual trapped IX, we are able to spectrally track the emitters as the moir\'e lattice is filled with excess carriers. Upon initial doping of the heterobilayer, neutral trapped IX form charged IX (IX trions) uniformly with a binding energy of ~7 meV. Upon further doping, the empty superlattice sites sequentially fill, creating a Coulomb staircase: stepwise changes in the IX trion emission energy due to Coulomb interactions with carriers at nearest neighbour moir\'e sites. This non-invasive, highly local technique can complement transport and non-local optical sensing techniques to characterise Coulomb interaction energies, visualise charge correlated states, or probe local disorder in a moir\'e superlattice.