journal article·2023-04Open access

Tip-induced excitonic luminescence nanoscopy of an atomically resolved van der Waals heterostructure

Luis E. Parra López, Anna Rosławska, Fabrice Scheurer, Stéphane Berciaud, Guillaume Schull

Nature Materials· Volume 22· Issue 4

Abstract

The electronic and optical properties of van der Waals heterostructures are strongly influenced by the structuration and homogeneity of their nano- and atomic-scale environments. Unravelling this intimate structure-property relationship is a key challenge that requires methods capable of addressing the light-matter interactions in van der Waals materials with ultimate spatial resolution. Here we use a low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscope to probe-with atomic-scale resolution-the excitonic luminescence of a van der Waals heterostructure, made of a transition metal dichalcogenide monolayer stacked onto a few-layer graphene flake supported by a Au(111) substrate. Sharp emission lines arising from neutral, charged and localized excitons are reported. Their intensities and emission energies vary as a function of the nanoscale topography of the van der Waals heterostructure, explaining the variability of the emission properties observed with diffraction-limited approaches. Our work paves the way towards understanding and controlling optoelectronic phenomena in moiré superlattices with atomic-scale resolution.
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Research context

OpenAlex topics: 2D Materials and Applications · Topological Materials and Phenomena · Graphene research and applications

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