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Valley polarization in stacked MoS2 induced by circularly polarized light

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Abstract

Manipulation of valley pseudospins is crucial for future valleytronics. The emerging transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) provide new possibilities for exploring the interplay among the quantum degrees of freedom, including real spin, valley pseudospin, and layer pseudospin. For example, spin–valley coupling results in valley-dependent circular dichroism in which electrons with particular spin (up or down) can be selectively excited by chiral optical pumping in monolayer TMDs, whereas in few-layer TMDs, the interlayer hopping further affects the spin–valley coupling. In addition to valley and layer pseudospins, here we propose a new degree of freedom—stacking pseudospin—and demonstrate new phenomena correlated to this new stacking freedom that otherwise require the application of external electrical or magnetic field. We investigated all possible stacking configurations of chemical-vapor-deposition-grown trilayer MoS2 (AAA, ABB, AAB, ABA, and 3R). Although the AAA, ABA, 3R stackings possess a sole peak with lower degree of valley polarization than that in monolayer samples, the AAB (ABB) stackings exhibit two distinct peaks, one similar to that observed in monolayer MoS2 and an additional unpolarized peak at lower energy. Our findings provide a more complete understanding of valley quantum control for future valleytronics.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by MOE under AcRF Tier 2 (No. MOE2012-T2-2-124) and AcRF Tier 3 (No. MOE2011-T3-1-005) in Singapore. X. L. W. and B. K. T. would like to acknowledge the funding support from NTU-A*STAR Silicon Technologies Centre of Excellence under the program grant No. 112 3510 0003. L. Z. would like to acknowledge the funding support from the Singapore National Research Foundation under NRF RF Award No. NRF-RF2013-08. J. X. Y. and J. X. acknowledge the technical support from H. L. H. at WITec. We thank Dr. Jer-Lai Kuo for helpful discussions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637371, Singapore

    Juan Xia, Jiaxu Yan & Zexiang Shen

  2. NOVITAS, Nanoelectronics Centre of Excellence, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Xingli Wang, Beng Kang Tay & Zheng Liu

  3. CINTRA CNRS/NTU/THALES, UMI 3288, Research Techno Plaza, Singapore, 637553, Singapore

    Beng Kang Tay, Zheng Liu & Zexiang Shen

  4. School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Shoushun Chen

  5. Center for Programmable Materials, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 639798, Singapore

    Zheng Liu

  6. Institute of Advanced Materials (IAM), Jiangsu National Synergistic Innovation Center for Advanced Materials (SICAM), Nanjing Tech University (NanjingTech), 30 South Puzhu Road, Nanjing, 211816, China

    Jiaxu Yan

  7. Centre for Disruptive Photonic Technologies, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, 637371, Singapore

    Zexiang Shen

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  1. Juan Xia
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Correspondence to Jiaxu Yan or Zexiang Shen.

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Xia, J., Wang, X., Tay, B.K. et al. Valley polarization in stacked MoS2 induced by circularly polarized light. Nano Res. 10, 1618–1626 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1329-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-016-1329-x

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