An Ultrafast Terahertz Probe of The Transient Evolution of The Charged and Neutral Phase of Photo-excited Electron-Hole Gas in Monolayer Semiconductor

Ultrafast pump and terahertz probe spectroscopy on CVD-grown monolayer MoS2

Abstract

We investigate the dynamical formation of an exciton from photo-excited electron-hole plasma and its subsequent decay dynamics in monolayer MoS2 grown by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) using ultrafast pump and terahertz probe spectroscopy. Different photo-excited electron-hole states are resolved based on their distinct responses to THz photon and decay lifetimes. The observed transient THz transmission can be fitted with two decay components, a fast component with a decay lifetime of 20 ps, which is attributed to the exciton lifetime, including its formation and subsequent intra-exciton relaxation; a slow component with an extremely long decay lifetime of several ns, possibly due to a long-lived dark exciton state. The relaxation dynamics are further supported by temperature and pump-fluence-dependent studies of the decay time constants. The sign of the transient THz observed in this experiment is the opposite of that measured in a recent parallel transient THz work on MoS2. The observed decay dynamics are also different, and the possible reasons for these discrepancies are discussed.

Publication
2D Materials
Zhihan Gao
Zhihan Gao
PhD student