Enhanced Emission from Defect Levels in Multilayer MoS<sub>2</sub>
Yuankun Lin, Evan Hathaway, Fatimah Habis, Yuanxi Wang, Roberto González-Rodríguez, Khadijah Alnasser, Noah Hurley, Jingbiao Cui
Abstract
Abstract Realizing stimulated emission from defects in 2D‐layered semiconductors has the potential to enhance the sensitivity of characterizing their defects. However, stimulated emission from defects in layered materials presents a different set of challenges in carrier lifetime and energy level design and is not achieved so far. Here, photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, and first‐principles theory are combined to reveal an anomalous PL intensity–temperature relation and strong polarization effects at a defect emission peak in annealed multilayer MoS 2 , suggesting defect‐based stimulated emission. The emergence of stimulated emission behavior is also controllable (by temperature) and reversible. The observed stimulated emission behavior is supported by a three‐level system involving two defect levels from chalcogen vacancies and a pump level from the conduction band edge. First‐principles calculations show that the special indirect gap that enables stimulated emission is not native to pristine bulk MoS 2 and only emerges under thermal strain.