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Valley-Selective Exciton Bistability in a Suspended Monolayer Semiconductor

Cornell Affiliated Author(s)

Author

H. Xie
S. Jiang
J. Shan
K.F. Mak

Abstract

We demonstrate robust optical bistability, the phenomenon of two well-discriminated stable states depending upon the history of the optical input, in fully suspended monolayers of WSe2 at low temperatures near the exciton resonance. Optical bistability has been achieved under continuous-wave optical excitation that is red-detuned from the exciton resonance at an intensity level of 103 W/cm2. The observed bistability is originated from a photothermal mechanism, which provides both optical nonlinearity and passive feedback, two essential elements for optical bistability. The low thermal conductance of suspended samples is primarily responsible for the low excitation intensities required for optical bistability. Under a finite out-of-plane magnetic field, the exciton bistability becomes helicity dependent due to the exciton valley Zeeman effect, which enables repeatable switching of the sample reflectance by light polarization. Our study has opened up exciting opportunities in controlling light with light, including its wavelength, power, and polarization, using monolayer semiconductors. © 2018 American Chemical Society.

Date Published

Journal

Nano Letters

Volume

18

Issue

5

Number of Pages

3213-3220,

URL

https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85046454738&doi=10.1021%2facs.nanolett.8b00987&partnerID=40&md5=724db97061efbd7558bd12af3f3d0bed

DOI

10.1021/acs.nanolett.8b00987

Group (Lab)

Jie Shan Group
Kin Fai Mak Group

Funding Source

DMR-1410407
FA9550-16-1-0249
W911NF-17-1-0605

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