Valley resolved dynamics of phonon bottleneck in semiconductor molybdenum ditelluride

TL;DR

This study investigates the valley-specific carrier and phonon dynamics in 2H-MoTe2, revealing the presence of phonon bottlenecks in different valleys through combined experimental and theoretical methods.

Contribution

It provides a detailed, valley-resolved understanding of carrier relaxation and phonon interactions in 2H-MoTe2, addressing the previously unexplored phonon bottleneck phenomenon.

Findings

Identification of carrier relaxation pathways and timescales.

Quantitative estimation of phonon mode populations.

Detection of phonon bottlenecks in different valleys.

Abstract

Semiconductor molybdenum ditelluride (2H-MoTe2) possess multiple valleys in the band structure, enriching its physical properties and potentials in applications. The understanding of its multivalley nature of fundamental processes involving population and relaxation of carriers and phonons is still evolving; particularly, the possible phonon bottleneck has not yet been addressed. Here, we investigate the carrier intra- and intervalley scattering and the phonon dynamics in different valleys in photoexcited few-layer 2H-MoTe2, by using the time resolved measurements of optical absorption and electron diffraction, together with the density functional theory calculation and molecular dynamics simulation. The pathways and timescales of carrier relaxation, accompanied with the emissions of optical phonons at the Brillouin zone center and acoustic phonons at the zone border are revealed. We present a couple of approaches to estimate the population of different phonon modes based on the results of optical and electron diffraction measurements, hence quantitatively identify the occurrences of phonon bottleneck located in different valleys. Our findings make possible to construct a comprehensive picture of the complex interactions between carriers and phonons in 2H-MoTe2 with the valley degree of freedom resolved.