Moir\'e exciton condensate: nonlinear Dirac point, broken-symmetry Bloch waves and unusual optical selection rules

TL;DR

This paper investigates the properties of moiré exciton condensates, revealing complex nonlinear band structures, symmetry-breaking Bloch waves, and unusual optical selection rules, with implications for experimental detection via light emission.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of nonlinear Dirac points and symmetry-breaking Bloch waves in moiré exciton condensates, highlighting novel optical phenomena and potential experimental signatures.

Findings

Nonlinear dispersion with complex loop structures due to exciton interactions.

Emergence of a nonlinear Dirac cone with three-fold degeneracy.

Broken $C3$ symmetry leading to unusual optical polarization emission.

Abstract

Moir\'e exciton features tunable Dirac dispersion and spatially dependent optical selection rules. With the long lifetime due to its interlayer nature, it is promising to realize a Bose-Einstein condensation of moir\'e excitons. Here we study the properties of moir\'e exciton condensate within the mean-field theory, with special focus on exciton-exciton interaction effect on the nonlinear Bloch band and Bloch waves of exciton condensate in moir\'e potential. We find the nonlinear dispersion of the moir\'e exciton condensate exhibits complex loop structure induced by exciton-exciton interaction. A nonlinear Dirac cone emerges at $\boldsymbol{\Gamma}$ point of the Bloch band, with a three-fold degenerate nonlinear Dirac point. Each degenerate Bloch wave at nonlinear Dirac point spontaneously breaks $C3$ rotational symmetry of the moir\'e potential, and themselves differ by $C3$ rotations. Since they reside in the light cone, these nontrivial Bloch band structure and broken-symmetry Bloch waves can be experimentally detected by examining light emission from those states. Symmetry breaking of Bloch states implies unusual optical selection rules compared with single exciton case: moir\'e exciton condensate at $\boldsymbol{\Gamma}$ point emits light with all three components of polarization instead of only left or right circular polarization. We further propose that, by applying in-plane electric field on one layer to drive an initially optically dark exciton condensate towards light cone, the light polarization of final states as well as their dependence on field direction serves as the smoking gun for experimental observation.