InSe as a case between 3D and 2D layered crystals for excitons

Electrical detection of the flat-band dispersion in van der Waals field-effect structures

Two-dimensional flat-band systems have recently attracted considerable interest due to the rich physics unveiled by emergent phenomena and correlated electronic states at van Hove singularities. However, the difficulties in electrically detecting the flat-band position in field-effect structures are slowing down the investigation of their properties. In this work, we use indium selenide (InSe) as a flat-band system due to a van Hove singularity at the valence-band edge in a few-layer form of the material without the requirement of a twist angle. We investigate tunnelling photocurrents in gated few-layer InSe structures and relate them to ambipolar transport and photoluminescence measurements. We observe an appearance of a sharp change in tunnelling mechanisms due to the presence of the van Hove singularity at the flat band. We further corroborate our findings by studying tunnelling currents as a reliable probe for the flat-band position up to room temperature. Our results create an alternative approach to studying flat-band systems in heterostructures of two-dimensional materials.

Optical properties of orthorhombic germanium sulfide: unveiling the anisotropic nature of Wannier excitons

To fully explore exciton-based applications and improve their performance, it is essential to understand the exciton behavior in anisotropic materials. Here, we investigate the optical properties of anisotropic excitons in GeS encapsulated by h-BN using different approaches that combine polarization- and temperature-dependent photoluminescence (PL) measurements, ab initio calculations, and effective mass approximation (EMA). Using the Bethe-Salpeter Equation (BSE) method, we found that the optical absorption spectra in GeS are significantly affected by the Coulomb interaction included in the BSE method, which shows the importance of excitonic effects besides it exhibits a significant dependence on the direction of polarization, revealing the anisotropic nature of bulk GeS. By combining ab initio calculations and EMA methods, we investigated the quasi-hydrogenic exciton states and oscillator strength (OS) of GeS along the zigzag and armchair axes. We found that the anisotropy induces lifting of the degeneracy and mixing of the excitonic states in GeS, which results in highly non-hydrogenic features. A very good agreement with the experiment is observed.

Strong Exciton-Exciton Scattering of Exfoliated van der Waals InSe toward Efficient Continuous-Wave Near-Infrared P-Band Emission

P-band emission is a superlinear low-coherence emission through exciton-exciton (X-X) scattering into photon-like states. It occurs without the prerequisites of population inversion or macroscopical coherence, rendering lower power consumption than the widely explored superlinear low-coherence emissions including superfluorescence, amplified spontaneous emission, and random lasing, and holds great potential for speckle-free imaging and interferometric sensing. However, competition processes including exciton dissociation and annihilation undermine its operation at room temperature and/or low excitation conditions. Here we report room-temperature P-band emission from InSe microflakes with excitation density of 10¹⁰ cm^-2, offering 2-orders-of-magnitude lower operation density compared to the state-of-the-art superlinear low-coherence emissions. The efficient P-band emission is attributed to a large X-X scattering strength of 0.25 μeV μm² due to enhanced spatial confinement along with intrinsic material metrics of 3D/2D exciton complex and asymmetric electron/hole mass. These findings open an avenue toward strong low-coherence near-infrared light sources based on van der Waals semiconductors.

Flat-Band-Induced Many-Body Interactions and Exciton Complexes in a Layered Semiconductor

Interactions among a collection of particles generate many-body effects in solids that result in striking modifications of material properties. The heavy carrier mass that yields strong interactions and gate control of carrier density over a wide range makes two-dimensional semiconductors an exciting playground to explore many-body physics. The family of III-VI metal monochalcogenides emerges as a new platform for this purpose because of its excellent optical properties and the flat valence band dispersion. In this work, we present a complete study of charge-tunable excitons in few-layer InSe by photoluminescence spectroscopy. From the optical spectra, we establish that free excitons in InSe are more likely to be captured by ionized donors leading to the formation of bound exciton complexes. Surprisingly, a pronounced red shift of the exciton energy accompanied by a decrease of the exciton binding energy upon hole-doping reveals a significant band gap renormalization induced by the presence of the Fermi reservoir.

Determination of the direct bandgap value in In4Se3thin films

The value and the nature of the bandgap of In₄Se₃are still not well defined, with a large spread of the experimental data between 0.42 and 1.68 eV and an uncertain nature, predicted to be indirect byab initioband structure calculations. Here we report on the optical transmission and photoluminescence (PL) performed in In₄Se₃thin films grown by coevaporation on (0001)-oriented sapphire wafers. The quality of the polycrystalline layers allows the first detection of the excitonic-like transition in the optical absorption of this compound at low temperature. The PL detected under weak laser excitation shows a bound exciton emission at 0.75 eV. Strong laser irradiation reveals a quadratic dependence of the PL intensity on the optical excitation, which demonstrates a stimulated emission at 0.79 eV in relation with an exciton-exciton scattering process. On the basis of a reasonable estimate of the exciton energy, equal to10-15meV, we evaluate the direct bandgap of In₄Se₃to0.82±0.01eV at low temperature.

Light sources with bias tunable spectrum based on van der Waals interface transistors

Light-emitting electronic devices are ubiquitous in key areas of current technology, such as data communications, solid-state lighting, displays, and optical interconnects. Controlling the spectrum of the emitted light electrically, by simply acting on the device bias conditions, is an important goal with potential technological repercussions. However, identifying a material platform enabling broad electrical tuning of the spectrum of electroluminescent devices remains challenging. Here, we propose light-emitting field-effect transistors based on van der Waals interfaces of atomically thin semiconductors as a promising class of devices to achieve this goal. We demonstrate that large spectral changes in room-temperature electroluminescence can be controlled both at the device assembly stage -by suitably selecting the material forming the interfaces- and on-chip, by changing the bias to modify the device operation point. Even though the precise relation between device bias and kinetics of the radiative transitions remains to be understood, our experiments show that the physical mechanism responsible for light emission is robust, making these devices compatible with simple large areas device production methods.

Engineering the Dipole Orientation and Symmetry Breaking with Mixed-Dimensional Heterostructures

Engineering of the dipole and the symmetry of materials plays an important role in fundamental research and technical applications. Here, a novel morphological manipulation strategy to engineer the dipole orientation and symmetry of 2D layered materials by integrating them with 1D nanowires (NWs) is reported. This 2D InSe -1D AlGaAs NW heterostructure example shows that the in-plane dipole moments in InSe can be engineered in the mixed-dimensional heterostructure to significantly enhance linear and nonlinear optical responses (e.g., photoluminescence, Raman, and second harmonic generation) with an enhancement factor of up to ≈12. Further, the 1D NW can break the threefold rotational symmetry of 2D InSe, leading to a strong optical anisotropy of up to ≈65%. These results of engineering dipole orientation and symmetry breaking with the mixed-dimensional heterostructures open a new path for photonic and optoelectronic applications.

Layer Number-Dependent Raman Spectra of γ-InSe

The two-dimensional layered semiconductor InSe, with its high carrier mobility, chemical stability, and strong charge transfer ability, plays a crucial role in optoelectronic devices. The number of InSe layers (L) has an important influence on its band structure and optoelectronic properties. Herein we present systematic investigations on few-layer (1L-7L) γ-InSe by optical contrast and Raman spectroscopy. We propose three quantified formulas to quickly identify the layer number using optical contrast, the frequency difference of two A₁ modes, and ultralow-frequency Raman spectroscopy, respectively. Moreover, angle-resolved polarization Raman spectra show that γ-InSe is isotropic in the a-b plane. Furthermore, using Raman mapping, we find that the relative strength of the low-frequency interlayer shear modes is particularly sensitive to the interaction between the sample and the substrate.

Room-temperature Near-infrared Excitonic Lasing from Mechanically Exfoliated InSe Microflake

The development of chip-level near-infrared laser sources using two-dimensional semiconductors is imperative to maintain the architecture of van der Waals integrated optical interconnections. However, the established two-dimensional semiconductor lasers may have either the disadvantages of poor controllability of monolayered gain media, large optical losses on silicon, or complicated fabrication of external optical microcavities. This study demonstrates room-temperature near-infrared lasing from mechanically exfoliated γ-phase indium selenide (InSe) microflakes free from external optical microcavities at a center wavelength of ∼1030 nm. The lasing action occurs at the sub-Mott density level and is generated by exciton-exciton scattering with a high net modal optical gain of ∼1029 cm^-1. Moreover, the lasing is sustained for microdisks fabricated by a simple laser printing with a reduced threshold. These results suggest that InSe is a promising material for near-infrared microlasers and can be employed in a wide range of applications, including imaging, sensing, and optical interconnects.

Strain-Induced Bandgap Enhancement of InSe Ultrathin Films with Self-Formed Two-Dimensional Electron Gas

Atomically thin indium selenide (InSe) is a representative two-dimensional (2D) family that have recently attracted extensive interest for their intriguing emerging physics and potential optoelectronic applications with high-performance. Here, by utilizing molecular beam epitaxy and scanning tunneling microscopy, we report a controlled synthesis of InSe thin films down to the monolayer limit and characterization of their electronic properties at atomic scale. Highly versatile growth conditions are developed to fabricate well crystalline InSe films, with a reversible and controllable phase transformation between InSe and In₂Se₃. The band gap size of InSe films, as enhanced by quantum confinement, increases with decreasing film thickness. Near various categories of lattice imperfections, the band gap becomes significantly enlarged, resulting in a type-I band alignments for lateral heterojunctions. Such band gap enhancement, as unveiled from our first-principles calculations, is ascribed to the local compressive strain imposed by the lattice imperfections. Moreover, InSe films host highly conductive 2D electron gas, manifesting prominent quasiparticle scattering signatures. The 2D electron gas is self-formed via substrate doping of electrons, which shift the Fermi level above the confinement-quantized conduction band. Our study identifies InSe ultrathin film as an appealing system for both fundamental research and potential applications in nanoelectrics and optoelectronics.

High-performance polarization-sensitive photodetectors on two-dimensional β -InSe

Two-dimensional (2D) indium selenide (InSe) has been widely studied for application in transistors and photodetectors, which benefit from its excellent optoelectronic properties. Among the three specific polytypes (γ-, ϵ- and β-phase) of InSe, only the crystal lattice of InSe in β-phase (β-InSe) belongs to a non-symmetry point group of \documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{upgreek} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document} }{}$D_{6h}^4$\end{document}, which indicates stronger anisotropic transport behavior and potential in the polarized photodetection of β-InSe-based optoelectronic devices. Therefore, we prepare the stable p-type 2D-layered β-InSe via temperature gradient method. The anisotropic Raman, transport and photoresponse properties of β-InSe have been experimentally and theoretically proven, showing that the β-InSe-based device has a ratio of 3.76 for the maximum to minimum dark current at two orthogonal orientations and a high photocurrent anisotropic ratio of 0.70 at 1 V bias voltage, respectively. The appealing anisotropic properties demonstrated in this work clearly identify β-InSe as a competitive candidate for filter-free polarization-sensitive photodetectors.

Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Layered Group III Metal Chalcogenides on GaAs(001) Substrates

Development of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) of two-dimensional (2D) layered materials is an inevitable step in realizing novel devices based on 2D materials and heterostructures. However, due to existence of numerous polytypes and occurrence of additional phases, the synthesis of 2D films remains a difficult task. This paper reports on MBE growth of GaSe, InSe, and GaTe layers and related heterostructures on GaAs(001) substrates by using a Se valve cracking cell and group III metal effusion cells. The sophisticated self-consistent analysis of X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy data was used to establish the correlation between growth conditions, formed polytypes and additional phases, surface morphology and crystalline structure of the III–VI 2D layers. The photoluminescence and Raman spectra of the grown films are discussed in detail to confirm or correct the structural findings. The requirement of a high growth temperature for the fabrication of optically active 2D layers was confirmed for all materials. However, this also facilitated the strong diffusion of group III metals in III–VI and III–VI/II–VI heterostructures. In particular, the strong In diffusion into the underlying ZnSe layers was observed in ZnSe/InSe/ZnSe quantum well structures, and the Ga diffusion into the top InSe layer grown at ~450 °C was confirmed by the Raman data in the InSe/GaSe heterostructures. The results on fabrication of the GaSe/GaTe quantum well structures are presented as well, although the choice of optimum growth temperatures to make them optically active is still a challenge.

The Interaction of Hydrogen with the van der Waals Crystal γ-InSe

The emergence of the hydrogen economy requires development in the storage, generation and sensing of hydrogen. The indium selenide ( γ -InSe) van der Waals (vdW) crystal shows promise for technologies in all three of these areas. For these applications to be realised, the fundamental interactions of InSe with hydrogen must be understood. Here, we present a comprehensive experimental and theoretical study on the interaction of γ -InSe with hydrogen. It is shown that hydrogenation of γ -InSe by a Kaufman ion source results in a marked quenching of the room temperature photoluminescence signal and a modification of the vibrational modes of γ -InSe, which are modelled by density functional theory simulations. Our experimental and theoretical studies indicate that hydrogen is incorporated into the crystal preferentially in its atomic form. This behaviour is qualitatively different from that observed in other vdW crystals, such as transition metal dichalcogenides, where molecular hydrogen is intercalated in the vdW gaps of the crystal, leading to the formation of "bubbles" for hydrogen storage.