Evidence for Exciton Crystals in a 2D Semiconductor Heterotrilayer
Yusong Bai, Yiliu Li, Song Liu, Yinjie Guo, Jordan Pack, Jue Wang, Cory R. Dean, James Hone, Xiaoyang Zhu
Abstract
Two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) and their moiré interfaces have been demonstrated for correlated electron states, including Mott insulators and electron/hole crystals commensurate with moiré superlattices. Here we present spectroscopic evidence for ordered bosons─interlayer exciton crystals in a WSe 2 /MoSe 2 /WSe 2 trilayer, where the enhanced Coulomb interactions over those in heterobilayers have been predicted to result in exciton ordering. Ordered interlayer excitons in the trilayer are characterized by negligible mobility and by sharper PL peaks persisting to an exciton density of n ex ∼ 10 12 cm –2, which is an order of magnitude higher than the corresponding limit in the heterobilayer. We present evidence for the predicted quadrupolar exciton crystal and its transitions to dipolar excitons either with increasing n ex or by an applied electric field. These ordered interlayer excitons may serve as models for the exploration of quantum phase transitions and quantum coherent phenomena.