Interlayer dark excitons in a van der Waals heterostructure

Rundong Ma; Konstantin Davydov; Liuxin Gu; Lifu Zhang; Hassan Alnatah; Beini Gao; Ruihao Ni; Suji Park; Houk Jang; Takashi Taniguchi; Kenji Watanabe; You Zhou

arXiv · 2609.38033

Interlayer dark excitons in a van der Waals heterostructure

Rundong Ma·Konstantin Davydov·Liuxin Gu·Lifu Zhang·Hassan Alnatah·Beini Gao·Ruihao Ni·Suji Park·Houk Jang·Takashi Taniguchi·Kenji Watanabe·You Zhou

View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

Interlayer excitons in transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterostructures exhibit long lifetimes and long-range transport, making them promising for excitonic devices and quantum many-body phases, such as Bose-Einstein condensates. Achieving these goals requires a precise understanding of spin-allowed bright and nominally spin-forbidden dark excitons, because the lowest-energy exciton species governs population, transport, and condensation. Despite substantial progress, unambiguously distinguishing singlet and triplet interlayer excitons has been challenging, as moiré excitons in these heterostructures can mimic their optical signatures. Here, we report the direct spectroscopic identification of bright (singlet) and dark (triplet) interlayer excitons in high-quality, dual-gated WSe$_2$/hBN/WSe$_2$ homobilayers. Electric-field-dependent photoluminescence and reflectance reveal two momentum-direct interlayer transitions with distinct spin configurations. The interlayer dark excitons obey selection rules that differ from those of bright excitons. Strikingly, interlayer dark excitons retain strong valley polarization, even with their ultralong lifetime exceeding microseconds. Finally, we demonstrate twist-angle control, wherein twist-induced electron-hole momentum mismatch modulates interlayer exciton emission. These results provide critical insights into the electronic and excitonic structure of TMD heterostructures, opening new avenues for excitonic many-body physics and optoelectronic devices.

Explore related subjects

cond-mat.mes-hall cond-mat.mtrl-sci physics.optics

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Rundong Ma, Konstantin Davydov, Liuxin Gu, Lifu Zhang, Hassan Alnatah, Beini Gao, Ruihao Ni, Suji Park, Houk Jang, Takashi Taniguchi, Kenji Watanabe, You Zhou. 2026-09-29. Interlayer dark excitons in a van der Waals heterostructure. https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.38033

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Density-matrix quantum kinetics of spin-mode crossover and ac Edelstein response in spin--orbit-coupled chiral metals

To clarify spin relaxation and precession across the weak-to-strong SOC crossover in chiral conductors, we formulate a density-matrix quantum kinetic theory for a three-dimensional isotropic chiral metal with hedgehog SOC and nonmagnetic impurity scattering. The formulation retains interband coherence, and its collision integral conserves charge, energy, and spin during impurity scattering. We identify three spin modes that evolve continuously from a long-lived D'yakonov--Perel' relaxation mode and two strongly damped precessional modes at weak SOC to one relaxational and two coherent precessional modes at strong SOC. A closed multipole decomposition maps the spin dynamics onto an effective Bloch equation, providing a unified interpretation of relaxation and precession across the crossover. We further derive the ac Edelstein susceptibility and the reciprocal current response to a time-dependent Zeeman field, show that their poles coincide with the spin modes, and verify Onsager reciprocity. The theory thus provides a unified analytic description of spin relaxation, precession, and spin--charge conversion across the weak-to-strong SOC crossover.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Incipient superconductivity and tunable Chern insulators in twisted bilayer-trilayer graphene

Moiré superlattices assembled by twisting Bernal and rhombohedral multilayer graphene host a rich set of interaction-driven magnetic and topological states, yet superconductivity has not been observed in these systems except in proximity to a transition-metal dichalcogenide. Here we report incipient superconductivity and tunable Chern insulators in twisted bilayer-trilayer graphene encapsulated by hexagonal boron nitride. Across twist angles from $θ= 1.05^\circ$ to $1.50^\circ$, Chern insulators form at integer and fractional moiré fillings for electron doping, with Chern numbers up to |C| = 3 set by twist angle and tuned by doping. At $θ= 1.18^\circ$, a symmetry-broken metallic region forms for hole doping and hosts a trivial insulator at band filling $ν= -2$. Displacement field alone drives this insulator into a pocket of incipient superconductivity with a sharp transition, a well-defined critical current, and a critical temperature that peaks near the insulating boundary, although the resistance does not fall to zero. In-plane magnetic field expands the pocket, which persists to more than four times the weak-coupling Pauli limit, and stabilizes a second pocket in which Fraunhofer-like modulation of the critical current signals phase-coherent pairing. Twisted bilayer-trilayer graphene thus offers a single gate-tunable system in which pairing can be interfaced with Chern insulators whose topology is itself an adjustable parameter.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2026

Electrically switchable one-dimensional quadrupolar excitons in lateral double heterojunctions

Two neighboring lateral interfaces provide a spatial degree of freedom for controlling one-dimensional charge-transfer excitons within a single semiconductor monolayer. We investigate a type-II WS2-MoS2-WS2 double heterojunction using an effective-mass two-particle Hamiltonian with a screened Coulomb interaction. For equivalent left and right interfaces at zero electric field,inter-interface coupling produces energetically split even- and odd-parity exciton states, each with zero permanent dipole. An electric field perpendicular to the interfaces continuously converts the lower state from a quadrupolar superposition with a quadratic Stark shift into a predominantly single-interface dipolar exciton with an approximately linear shift. The spatially resolved calculation gives binding energies of approximately 104 and 100 meV, a doublet splitting of 4.6 meV, and a crossover field of 0.87 V/um for a representative 1.5-nm MoS2 strip. Projection tests show that the lowest doublet controls the response near this crossover. Strip width tunes the coupling much more strongly than the binding energy, providing geometric control of the low-field Stark sensitivity. These results establish a continuum-model route to electrically reconfigurable one-dimensional quadrupolar excitons.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗