Observation of Strong Anisotropic Interlayer Excitons

Anisotropic interlayer excitons had been theoretically predicted to exist in two-dimensional (2D) anisotropy/isotropy van der Waals heterojunctions. However, experimental results consolidating the theoretical prediction and exploring the related anisotropic optoelectronic response have not been reported so far. Herein, strong photoluminescence (PL) of anisotropic interlayer excitons is observed in a symmetric anisotropy/isotropy/anisotropy heterojunction exemplified by 3L-ReS 2 /1L-MoS 2 /3L-ReS 2 using monolayer (1L) MoS 2 and trilayer (3L) ReS 2 as components. Sharp interlayer exciton PL peaks centered at ∼1.64, ∼1.61, and ∼1.57 eV are only observed at low temperatures of ≤120 K and become more pronounced as the temperature decreases. These interlayer excitons exhibit strong anisotropic PL intensity variations with periodicities of 180° as functions of the incident laser polarization angles. The polarization ratios of these interlayer excitons are calculated to be 1.33–1.45. Our study gives new insight into the manipulation of excitons in 2D materials and paves a new way for a rational design of novel anisotropic optoelectronic devices.