Giant Faraday rotation in atomically thin semiconductors

Benjamin Carey; Nils Kolja Wessling; Paul Steeger; Robert Schmidt; Steffen Michaelis de Vasconcellos; Rudolf Bratschitsch; Ashish Arora

doi:10.1038/s41467-024-47294-5

Giant Faraday rotation in atomically thin semiconductors

Benjamin Carey, Nils Kolja Wessling, Paul Steeger, Robert Schmidt, Steffen Michaelis de Vasconcellos, Rudolf Bratschitsch^*, Ashish Arora^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

Physics

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Abstract

Faraday rotation is a fundamental effect in the magneto-optical response of solids, liquids and gases. Materials with a large Verdet constant find applications in optical modulators, sensors and non-reciprocal devices, such as optical isolators. Here, we demonstrate that the plane of polarization of light exhibits a giant Faraday rotation of several degrees around the A exciton transition in hBN-encapsulated monolayers of WSe₂ and MoSe₂ under moderate magnetic fields. This results in the highest known Verdet constant of -1.9 × 10⁷ deg T⁻¹ cm⁻¹ for any material in the visible regime. Additionally, interlayer excitons in hBN-encapsulated bilayer MoS₂ exhibit a large Verdet constant (V_IL ≈ +2 × 10⁵ deg T⁻¹ cm⁻²) of opposite sign compared to A excitons in monolayers. The giant Faraday rotation is due to the giant oscillator strength and high g-factor of the excitons in atomically thin semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. We deduce the complete in-plane complex dielectric tensor of hBN-encapsulated WSe₂ and MoSe₂ monolayers, which is vital for the prediction of Kerr, Faraday and magneto-circular dichroism spectra of 2D heterostructures. Our results pose a crucial advance in the potential usage of two-dimensional materials in ultrathin optical polarization devices.

Original language	English
Article number	3082
Number of pages	8
Journal	Nature Communications
Volume	15
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47294-5
Publication status	Published - 10 Apr 2024

Funding

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the German Research Foundation (DFG project nos. AR 1128/1-1 and AR 1128/1-2), the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, and NM-ICPS of the DST, Government of India through the I-HUB Quantum Technology Foundation (Pune, India), Project No. CRG/2022/007008 of SERB (Government of India), and MoE-STARS project No. MoE-STARS/STARS-2/2023-0912 (Government of India). Fruitful discussions with Thorsten Deilmann and Mukul Kabir are gratefully acknowledged.

Keywords

Faraday rotation
thin semiconductors
transition metal dichalcogenides

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Carey-etal-NC-2024-Giant-Faraday-rotation-in-atomically-thin-semiconductorsFinal published version, 1.35 MBLicence: CC BY 4.0

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title = "Giant Faraday rotation in atomically thin semiconductors",

abstract = "Faraday rotation is a fundamental effect in the magneto-optical response of solids, liquids and gases. Materials with a large Verdet constant find applications in optical modulators, sensors and non-reciprocal devices, such as optical isolators. Here, we demonstrate that the plane of polarization of light exhibits a giant Faraday rotation of several degrees around the A exciton transition in hBN-encapsulated monolayers of WSe2 and MoSe2 under moderate magnetic fields. This results in the highest known Verdet constant of -1.9 × 107 deg T−1 cm−1 for any material in the visible regime. Additionally, interlayer excitons in hBN-encapsulated bilayer MoS2 exhibit a large Verdet constant (VIL ≈ +2 × 105 deg T−1 cm−2) of opposite sign compared to A excitons in monolayers. The giant Faraday rotation is due to the giant oscillator strength and high g-factor of the excitons in atomically thin semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. We deduce the complete in-plane complex dielectric tensor of hBN-encapsulated WSe2 and MoSe2 monolayers, which is vital for the prediction of Kerr, Faraday and magneto-circular dichroism spectra of 2D heterostructures. Our results pose a crucial advance in the potential usage of two-dimensional materials in ultrathin optical polarization devices.",

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AU - Steeger, Paul

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AU - Michaelis de Vasconcellos, Steffen

AU - Bratschitsch, Rudolf

AU - Arora, Ashish

PY - 2024/4/10

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N2 - Faraday rotation is a fundamental effect in the magneto-optical response of solids, liquids and gases. Materials with a large Verdet constant find applications in optical modulators, sensors and non-reciprocal devices, such as optical isolators. Here, we demonstrate that the plane of polarization of light exhibits a giant Faraday rotation of several degrees around the A exciton transition in hBN-encapsulated monolayers of WSe2 and MoSe2 under moderate magnetic fields. This results in the highest known Verdet constant of -1.9 × 107 deg T−1 cm−1 for any material in the visible regime. Additionally, interlayer excitons in hBN-encapsulated bilayer MoS2 exhibit a large Verdet constant (VIL ≈ +2 × 105 deg T−1 cm−2) of opposite sign compared to A excitons in monolayers. The giant Faraday rotation is due to the giant oscillator strength and high g-factor of the excitons in atomically thin semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. We deduce the complete in-plane complex dielectric tensor of hBN-encapsulated WSe2 and MoSe2 monolayers, which is vital for the prediction of Kerr, Faraday and magneto-circular dichroism spectra of 2D heterostructures. Our results pose a crucial advance in the potential usage of two-dimensional materials in ultrathin optical polarization devices.

AB - Faraday rotation is a fundamental effect in the magneto-optical response of solids, liquids and gases. Materials with a large Verdet constant find applications in optical modulators, sensors and non-reciprocal devices, such as optical isolators. Here, we demonstrate that the plane of polarization of light exhibits a giant Faraday rotation of several degrees around the A exciton transition in hBN-encapsulated monolayers of WSe2 and MoSe2 under moderate magnetic fields. This results in the highest known Verdet constant of -1.9 × 107 deg T−1 cm−1 for any material in the visible regime. Additionally, interlayer excitons in hBN-encapsulated bilayer MoS2 exhibit a large Verdet constant (VIL ≈ +2 × 105 deg T−1 cm−2) of opposite sign compared to A excitons in monolayers. The giant Faraday rotation is due to the giant oscillator strength and high g-factor of the excitons in atomically thin semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. We deduce the complete in-plane complex dielectric tensor of hBN-encapsulated WSe2 and MoSe2 monolayers, which is vital for the prediction of Kerr, Faraday and magneto-circular dichroism spectra of 2D heterostructures. Our results pose a crucial advance in the potential usage of two-dimensional materials in ultrathin optical polarization devices.

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Giant Faraday rotation in atomically thin semiconductors

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