Identifying multiexcitons in Mo S2 monolayers at room temperature

Abstract

One of the unique features of atomically thin two-dimensional materials is strong Coulomb interactions due to the reduced dielectric screening effect; this feature enables the study of many-body phenomena such as excitons, trions, and biexcitons. However, identification of biexcitons remains unresolved owing to their broad peak feature at room temperature. Here, we investigate multiexcitons in monolayer MoS2 using both electrical and optical doping and identify the transition energies for each exciton. The binding energy of the assigned biexciton is twice that of the trion, in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions. The biexciton population is predominant under optical doping but negligible under electrical doping. The biexciton population is quadratically proportional to the exciton population, obeying the mass-action theory. Our results illustrate the stable formation of not only trions but also biexcitons due to strong Coulomb interaction even at room temperature; therefore, these results provide a deeper understanding of the complex excitonic behaviors in two-dimensional semiconductors. ©2016 American Physical Society