2D Excitonics with Atomically Thin Lateral Heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent advances in the study of exciton behavior in atomically thin lateral heterostructures of transition metal dichalcogenides, highlighting new phenomena and potential applications in excitonics.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress in exciton dynamics, spectroscopy, and future prospects in TMD lateral heterostructures.

Findings

Observation of charge-transfer excitons at heterostructure interfaces

Unidirectional exciton transport phenomena

Potential for excitonic lensing applications

Abstract

Semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), such as MoSe$_2$ and WSe$_2$, exhibit unique optical and electronic properties. Vertical stacking of layers of one or more TMDs, to create heterostructures, has expanded the fields of moir\'e physics and twistronics. Bottom-up fabrication techniques, such as chemical vapor deposition, have advanced the creation of heterostructures beyond what was possible with mechanical exfoliation and stacking. These techniques now enable the fabrication of lateral heterostructures, where two or more monolayers are covalently bonded in the plane of their atoms. At their atomically sharp interfaces, lateral heterostructures exhibit additional phenomena, such as the formation of charge-transfer excitons, in which the electron and hole reside on opposite sides of the interface. Due to the energy landscape created by differences in the band structures of the constituent materials, unique effects such as unidirectional exciton transport and excitonic lensing can be observed in lateral heterostructures. This review outlines recent progress in exciton dynamics and spectroscopy of TMD-based lateral heterostructures and offers an outlook on future developments in excitonics in this promising system.