Charge quenching at defect states in transition metal dichalcogenide–graphene van der Waals heterobilayers

The electronic and spin properties of van der Waals materials are greatly influenced by the atomic features of the interface. Combining $a\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}b$ $i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}n\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}t\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}i\phantom{\rule{0}{0ex}}o$ methods, model Hamiltonian, and quantum master equation, the authors calculate the electronic transition times and the dynamics of electron population and depopulation of chalcogen vacancies at the interface between graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides. Their findings give insight into the semiclassical dynamics, reveal the interplay between lattice symmetry and spin through the spin-orbit interaction, and examine its impact on the charge quenching.