R. G. Herb Condensed Matter Seminars |
Events on Thursday, November 16th, 2023
- Strongly interacting excitons and electrons in atomically thin semiconducting heterostructures
- Time: 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
- Place: 5310 Chamberlin
- Speaker: You Zhou, U Maryland
- Abstract: Heterostructures of atomically thin semiconductors, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), have recently emerged as an exciting platform for exploring strongly interacting many-body systems of electrons and excitons. This talk focuses on our recent research investigating strong interactions among excitons and free carriers within these systems, shedding light on their relevance to Mott-Hubbard physics and applications in nonlinear optics and nanophotonics. First, I will discuss how optical pumping in TMD trilayers can induce giant excitonic optical nonlinearity via exciton-hole interactions. I will then describe how we can combine optical pumping and electrostatic gating to independently control the population of excitons and electrons in a TMD moiré system. This approach allows us to probe the intricate phase diagram of a Hubbard model with hybrid Ferionic and Bosonic excitations, leading to the observation of an excitonic Mott insulator. Lastly, I will discuss how one can combine multiple layers of atomically thin excitonic materials to fabricate optical nano-cavities. The emphasis will be on the realization of light-matter interactions that are both chiral and electrically tunable using such cavities, as well as the exploration of intriguing collective emitter states like super- and sub-radiance.
- Host: Ilya Esterlis