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Molecular Foundry

HIGHLIGHTSUltrafast charge and energy transport across two-dimensional atomic junctions
January 6, 2023

Scientific Achievement

(b-c) Comparison of spatially resolved experimental and theory for different stacking configurations. (d) Experimental unit cell averaged and tiled EELS map. (e) Theoretically calculated oscillator strength distribution of the peak I exciton, with similar radial blurring as the experiment.

We present a new understanding of the microscopic origins of ultrafast charge and energy transport across two dimensional heterostructures

Significance and Impact

This work explains how heat dissipates during ultrafast charge transfer at nanoscale interfaces. This understanding will help with the design of future devices for microelectronics, quantum science and other applications.

Research Details

  • The SLAC UED facility was used to selectively probe energy transfer in a photoexcited bilayer of WSe2 and WS2 via diffraction techniques.
  • Following impulsive photoexcitation of WSe2, we observed an unexpected concurrent heating of both layers, showing that energy was shared on ultrafast time-scales.
  • In combination with first principles theory, we found that this could be understood via a new type of phonon-assisted interlayer charge transfer, involving hybridized electronic states across the bilayer.
A. Sood., J.B. Haber, J. Carlström, E.A. Peterson, E. Barre, J.D. Georgaras, A.H.M. Reid, X. Shen, M.E. Zajac, E.C. Regan, J.Yang, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, F. Wang, X. Wang, J.B. Neaton, T.F. Heinz, A. Lindenberg, F. H. da Jornada, A. Raja, Nat. Nano. 2022, 18, 29-35 DOI: 10.1038/s41565-022-01253-7

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