exciton dynamics; hot-electrons; metal-semiconductor heterojunction; thermionic electron injection; transition metal dichalcogenides; ultrafast dynamics; Dichalcogenides; Electrons injection; Exciton dynamics; Exciton formation; Metal semiconductors; Metal−semiconductor heterojunction; Semiconductor heterojunctions; Thermionic electron injection; Transition metal dichalcogenides; Ultra-fast dynamics; Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials; Biotechnology; Electrical and Electronic Engineering; Physics - Materials Science
Abstract :
[en] Inorganic van der Waals bonded semiconductors such as transition metal dichalcogenides are the subject of intense research due to their electronic and optical properties which are promising for next-generation optoelectronic devices. In this context, understanding the carrier dynamics, as well as charge and energy transfer at the interface between metallic contacts and semiconductors, is crucial and yet quite unexplored. Here, we present an experimental study to measure the effect of mutual interaction between thermionically injected and directly excited carriers on the exciton formation dynamics in bulk WS2. By employing a pump-push-probe scheme, where a pump pulse induces thermionic injection of electrons from a gold substrate into the conduction band of the semiconductor, and another delayed push pulse that excites direct transitions in the WS2, we can isolate the two processes experimentally and thus correlate the mutual interaction with its effect on the ultrafast dynamics in WS2. The fast decay time constants extracted from the experiments show a decrease with an increasing ratio between the injected and directly excited charge carriers, thus disclosing the impact of thermionic electron injection on the exciton formation dynamics. Our findings might offer a new vibrant direction for the integration of photonics and electronics, especially in active and photodetection devices, and, more in general, in upcoming all-optical nanotechnologies.
Disciplines :
Physics
Author, co-author :
KELLER, Kilian Richard ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Department of Physics and Materials Science (DPHYMS)
Rojas-Aedo, Ricardo; Unilu - University of Luxembourg [LU] > Department of Physics and Materials Science
Zhang, Huiqin; Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 19104 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
SCHWEIZER, Pirmin ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine > Department of Physics and Materials Science > Team Daniele BRIDA
ALLERBECK, Jonas ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine > Department of Physics and Materials Science > Team Daniele BRIDA ; Nanotech@Surfaces Laboratory, EMPA, Ueberlandstrasse 129, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
BRIDA, Daniele ; University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Department of Physics and Materials Science (DPHYMS)
Jariwala, Deep ; Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering, University of Pennsylvania, 19104 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Maccaferri, Nicolò ; Department of Physics and Materials Science, University of Luxembourg, 162a Avenue de la Faïencerie, L-1511 Luxembourg, Luxembourg ; Department of Physics, Umeå University, Linnaeus väg 24, SE-90187 Umeå, Sweden
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Ultrafast Thermionic Electron Injection Effects on Exciton Formation Dynamics at a van der Waals Semiconductor/Metal Interface.
Vetenskapsr?det Fonds National de la Recherche Luxembourg European Regional Development Fund H2020 Future and Emerging Technologies Army Research Laboratory H2020 European Research Council Division of Materials Research
Funding text :
N.M. and D.B. acknowledge support from the Luxembourg National Research Fund (grant no. C19/MS/13624497 “ULTRON”) and the European Union under the FETOPEN-01-2018-2019-2020 call (grant no. 964363 “ProID”). D.B. and K.R.K. acknowledge support from the European Research Council through grant no. 819871 (UpTEMPO). D.B. and R.R.-A. acknowledge support from ERDF Program (grant no. 2017-03-022-19 “Lux-Ultra-Fast”). N.M. acknowledges support from the Swedish Research Council (grant no. 2021-05784). D.J. and H.Z. acknowledge primary support from the U.S. Army Research Office under contract number W911NF-19-1-0109 as well as partial support from National Science Foundation supported University of Pennsylvania Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (MRSEC) (DMR-1720530).The authors acknowledge Prof. Stefano Corni and Dr. Margherita Marsili for fruitful discussions. N.M. acknowledges support from the Faculty of Science and Technology and the Department of Physics, Umeå University. H.Z. acknowledges support from Vagelos Institute of Energy Science and Technology graduate fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania.
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