Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) show a wealth of exciton physics. Here, we report the existence of a new excitonic species, the high-lying exciton (HX), in single-layer WSe$_2$ with an energy of ~3.4 eV, almost twice the band-edge A-exciton energy, with a linewidth as narrow as 5.8 meV. The HX is populated through momentum-selective optical excitation in the K-valleys and is identified in upconverted photoluminescence (UPL) in the UV spectral region. Strong electron-phonon coupling results in a cascaded phonon progression with equidistant peaks in the luminescence spectrum, resolvable to ninth order. Ab initio GW-BSE calculations with full electron-hole correlations explain HX formation and unmask the admixture of upper conduction-band states to this complex many-body excitation. These calculations suggest that the HX is comprised of electrons of negative mass. The coincidence of such high-lying excitonic species at around twice the energy of band-edge excitons rationalizes the excitonic quantum-interference phenomenon recently discovered in optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) and explains the efficient Auger-like annihilation of band-edge excitons.
%0 Journal Article
%1 lin2020bright
%A Lin, Kai-Qiang
%A Ong, Chin Shen
%A Bange, Sebastian
%A Junior, Paulo E. Faria
%A Peng, Bo
%A Ziegler, Jonas D.
%A Zipfel, Jonas
%A Bäuml, Christian
%A Paradiso, Nicola
%A Watanabe, Kenji
%A Taniguchi, Takashi
%A Strunk, Christoph
%A Monserrat, Bartomeu
%A Fabian, Jaroslav
%A Chernikov, Alexey
%A Qiu, Diana Y.
%A Louie, Steven G.
%A Lupton, John M.
%D 2021
%J Nat. Commun.
%K a d
%P 5500
%R 10.1038/s41467-021-25499-2
%T Narrow-band high-lying excitons with negative-mass electrons in monolayer WSe$_2$
%U https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25499-2
%V 12
%X Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) show a wealth of exciton physics. Here, we report the existence of a new excitonic species, the high-lying exciton (HX), in single-layer WSe$_2$ with an energy of ~3.4 eV, almost twice the band-edge A-exciton energy, with a linewidth as narrow as 5.8 meV. The HX is populated through momentum-selective optical excitation in the K-valleys and is identified in upconverted photoluminescence (UPL) in the UV spectral region. Strong electron-phonon coupling results in a cascaded phonon progression with equidistant peaks in the luminescence spectrum, resolvable to ninth order. Ab initio GW-BSE calculations with full electron-hole correlations explain HX formation and unmask the admixture of upper conduction-band states to this complex many-body excitation. These calculations suggest that the HX is comprised of electrons of negative mass. The coincidence of such high-lying excitonic species at around twice the energy of band-edge excitons rationalizes the excitonic quantum-interference phenomenon recently discovered in optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) and explains the efficient Auger-like annihilation of band-edge excitons.
@article{lin2020bright,
abstract = {Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) show a wealth of exciton physics. Here, we report the existence of a new excitonic species, the high-lying exciton (HX), in single-layer WSe$_2$ with an energy of ~3.4 eV, almost twice the band-edge A-exciton energy, with a linewidth as narrow as 5.8 meV. The HX is populated through momentum-selective optical excitation in the K-valleys and is identified in upconverted photoluminescence (UPL) in the UV spectral region. Strong electron-phonon coupling results in a cascaded phonon progression with equidistant peaks in the luminescence spectrum, resolvable to ninth order. Ab initio GW-BSE calculations with full electron-hole correlations explain HX formation and unmask the admixture of upper conduction-band states to this complex many-body excitation. These calculations suggest that the HX is comprised of electrons of negative mass. The coincidence of such high-lying excitonic species at around twice the energy of band-edge excitons rationalizes the excitonic quantum-interference phenomenon recently discovered in optical second-harmonic generation (SHG) and explains the efficient Auger-like annihilation of band-edge excitons.},
added-at = {2021-11-08T09:01:25.000+0100},
author = {Lin, Kai-Qiang and Ong, Chin Shen and Bange, Sebastian and Junior, Paulo E. Faria and Peng, Bo and Ziegler, Jonas D. and Zipfel, Jonas and Bäuml, Christian and Paradiso, Nicola and Watanabe, Kenji and Taniguchi, Takashi and Strunk, Christoph and Monserrat, Bartomeu and Fabian, Jaroslav and Chernikov, Alexey and Qiu, Diana Y. and Louie, Steven G. and Lupton, John M.},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2241b3b9f3f376176027018ee290342cf/ctqmat},
day = 17,
doi = {10.1038/s41467-021-25499-2},
interhash = {11bc542214d41355e18482268ef02c12},
intrahash = {241b3b9f3f376176027018ee290342cf},
journal = {Nat. Commun.},
keywords = {a d},
month = {September},
pages = 5500,
timestamp = {2024-06-28T17:07:16.000+0200},
title = {Narrow-band high-lying excitons with negative-mass electrons in monolayer WSe$_{\mathbf{2}}$},
url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-25499-2},
volume = 12,
year = 2021
}