Emergence of 6-particle "hexciton'' states in WS$_2$ and MoSe$_2$ monolayers

TL;DR

This paper reports spectroscopic evidence for six-particle 'hexciton' states in doped WS$_2$ and MoSe$_2$ monolayers, revealing complex many-body excitonic phenomena involving multiple Fermi seas and quantum numbers.

Contribution

It provides the first direct spectroscopic demonstration of hexciton states in WS$_2$ and MoSe$_2$, expanding understanding of multi-particle exciton states in TMD monolayers.

Findings

Observation of hexcitons at the A-exciton in WS$_2$

Detection of hexcitons at the B-exciton in MoSe$_2$

Discussion of stability factors like distinguishability and screening

Abstract

When doped with a high density of mobile charge carriers, monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors can host new types of composite many-particle exciton states that do not exist in conventional semiconductors. Such multi-particle bound states arise when a photoexcited electron-hole pair couples to not just a single Fermi sea that is quantum-mechanically distinguishable (as for the case of conventional charged excitons or trions), but rather couples simultaneously to \textit{multiple} Fermi seas, each having distinct spin and valley quantum numbers. Composite six-particle ``hexciton'' states were recently identified in electron-doped WSe$_2$ monolayers, but under suitable conditions they should also form in all other members of the monolayer TMD family. Here we present spectroscopic evidence demonstrating the emergence of many-body hexcitons in charge-tunable WS$_2$ monolayers (at the A-exciton) and MoSe$_2$ monolayers (at the B-exciton). The roles of distinguishability and carrier screening on the stability of hexcitons are discussed.