Electrically Switchable Intervalley Excitons with Strong Two-Phonon Scattering in Bilayer WSe2.

Abstract

We report the observation of QΓ intervalley exciton in bilayer WSe2 devices encapsulated by boron nitride. The QΓ exciton resides at ∼18 meV below the QK exciton. The QΓ and QK excitons exhibit different Stark shifts under an out-of-plane electric field due to their different interlayer dipole moments. By controlling the electric field, we can switch their energy ordering and control which exciton dominates the luminescence of bilayer WSe2. Remarkably, both QΓ and QK excitons exhibit unusually strong two-phonon replicas, which are comparable to or even stronger than the one-phonon replicas. By detailed theoretical simulation, we reveal the existence of numerous (≥14) two-phonon scattering paths involving (nearly) resonant exciton-phonon scattering in bilayer WSe2. To our knowledge, such electric-field-switchable intervalley excitons with strong two-phonon replicas have not been found in any other two-dimensional semiconductors. These make bilayer WSe2 a distinctive valleytronic material with potential novel applications.