EFRI 2-DARE: Valley Optoelectronics with Atomically Thin Transition Metal Dichalcogenides

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Nontechnical Description: This project is aimed at exploiting the novel electronic and optical properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials through the use of a unique set of devices built at the nanometer scale. The main strategy is to implement new techniques to control the quantum mechanical behavior of electrons in 2D materials by tuning how they interact with photons of light as well as with precise electrical signals. The optoelectronic devices explored in this project have the potential to improve high-speed data communications and low-power electronics in a transformative way. This project provides an ideal framework for multidisciplinary education, where physics and engineering students in different research areas can interact closely with each other. The project also partners with existing programs at Berkeley (such as the Berkeley Edge program) that are aimed at enhancing the recruitment and training of underrepresented and woman students engaged the frontier research in science and engineering. Technical Description: This EFRI 2-DARE project aims to develop novel valleytronic and optoelectronic devices based on atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenide (MX2) crystals. Owing to their reduced dimensionality and high spin-orbital coupling, two-dimensional MX2 crystals (where M is a transition metal and X is a chalcogen) exhibit unusual quantum phenomena, including unique exciton physics and emergent valley degrees of freedom. An outstanding scientific question concerns the interplay between photons, excitons, and charge carriers with different valley and spin states in 2D MX2 crystals. This project aims at obtaining fundamental understanding of such interplay, and at developing novel valleytronic and optoelectronic devices based on these new insights. These goals will be achieved through an interdisciplinary and highly integrated approach that combines expertise in materials synthesis, spectroscopic characterization, device engineering, and theoretical modeling.