The condensation of excitons, bound electron-hole pairs in a solid, into a coherent collective electronic state was predicted over 50 years ago. Perhaps surprisingly, the phenomenon was first observed in a system consisting of two closely-spaced parallel two-dimensional electron gases in a semiconductor double quantum well. At an appropriate high magnetic field and low temperature, the bilayer electron system condenses into a state resembling a superconductor, only with the Cooper pairs replaced by excitons comprised of electrons in one layer bound to holes in the other. In spite of being charge neutral, the transport of excitons within the condensate gives rise to several spectacular electrical effects. This article describes these phenomena and examines how they inform our understanding of this unique phase of quantum electronic matter.
An ordered state of electrons in solids in which excitons condense was proposed many years ago as a theoretical possibility but has, until recently, never been observed. We review recent studies of semiconductor bilayer systems that provide clear evidence for this phenomenon and explain why exciton condensation in the quantum Hall regime, where these experiments were performed, is as likely to occur in electron-electron bilayers as in electron-hole bilayers. In current quantum Hall exciton condensates, disorder induces mobile vortices that flow in response to a supercurrent and limit the extre…
Graphene bilayers can condense into a state with spontaneous interlayer phase coherence that supports dissipationless counterflow supercurrents. Here we address the influence of disorder on the graphene bilayer mean-field and Kosterlitz-Thouless critical temperatures and report on a simple criteria for the survival of pair condensation.
The hydrodynamics equations for indirect excitons in the double quantum wells are obtained taking into account 1) a possibility of an exciton condensed phase formation, 2) the presence of a pumping, 3) the finite value of the exciton lifetime, 4) the exciton scattering by defects.New types of solutions in the form of bright and dark autsolitons are obtained for the exciton density. The role of localized and free exciton states is analyzed in a formation of the emission spectra.
In ordinary semiconductor bilayers, exciton condensates appear at total Landau level filling factor $ν_{T}=1$. We predict that similar states will occur in Bernal stacked graphene bilayers at many non-zero integer filling factors. For $ν_{T} = -3,1$ we find that the superfluid density of the exciton condensate vanishes and that a finite-temperature fluctuation induced first order isotropic-smectic phase transition occurs when the layer densities are not balanced. These anomalous properties of bilayer graphene exciton condensates are due to the degeneracy of Landau levels with $n=0$ and $n=1$ o…
Exciton superfluid is a macroscopic quantum phenomenon in which large quantities of excitons undergo the Bose-Einstein condensation. Recently, exciton superfluid has been widely studied in various bilayer systems. However, experimental measurements only provide indirect evidence for the existence of exciton superfluid. In this article, by viewing the exciton in a bilayer system as an electric dipole, we provide a general theory for the electric dipole superconductivity, and derive the London-type and Ginzburg-Landau-type equations for the electric dipole superconductors. By using these equatio…
The hydrodynamic equations for indirect excitons in the double quantum wells are studied taking into account 1) a possibility of an exciton condensed phase formation, 2) the presence of pumping, 3) finite value of the exciton lifetime, 4) exciton scattering by defects. The threshold pumping emergence of the periodical exciton density distribution is found. The role of localized and free exciton states is analyzed in the formation of emission spectra.
We examine the influence of remote bands on the tendency toward exciton condensation in a system consisting of two parallel graphene layers with negligible interlayer tunneling. We find that the remote bands can play a crucial supporting role, especially at low carrier densities, and comment on some challenges that arise in attempting quantitative estimates of condensation temperatures.
In this paper we discuss the optical response due to the excitonic effect of two types of hBN bilayers: AB and AA'. Understanding the properties of these bilayers is of great utility to the study of twisted bilayers at arbitrary angles, since these two configurations correspond to the limit cases of 0 and 60 degree rotation. To obtain the excitonic response we present a method to solve a four-band Bethe-Salpeter equation, by casting it into a 1D problem, thus greatly reducing the numerical burden of the calculation when compared with strictly 2D methods. We find results in good agreement with …
We have studied the excitonic gap formation in the Bernal Stacked, bilayer graphene (BLG) structures at half-filling. Considering the local Coulomb interaction between the layers, we calculate the excitonic gap parameter and we discuss the role of the interlayer and intralayer Coulomb interactions and the interlayer hopping on the excitonic pair formation in the BLG. Particularly, we predict the origin of excitonic gap formation and condensation, in relation to the farthermost interband optical transition spectrum. The general diagram of excitonic phase transition is given, explaining differen…
We report the direct observation of intervalley exciton between the Q conduction valley and $Γ$ valence valley in bilayer WSe$_2$ by photoluminescence. The Q$Γ$ exciton lies at ~18 meV below the QK exciton and dominates the luminescence of bilayer WSe$_2$. By measuring the exciton spectra at gate-tunable electric field, we reveal different interlayer electric dipole moments and Stark shifts between Q$Γ$ and QK excitons. Notably, we can use the electric field to switch the energy order and dominant luminescence between Q$Γ$ and QK excitons. Both Q$Γ$ and QK excitons exhibit pronounced phonon re…
Bilayer quantum Hall systems at ν=1 support an excitonic ground state. In addition to the usual charged quasiparticles, this system possesses a condensate degree of freedom: exciton transport. Detection of this neutral transport mode is facilitated by the use of the Corbino multiply-connected geometry in which charge transport is suppressed. We here summarize our recent experiments on Corbino devices which directly demonstrate exciton transport across the bulk of the incompressible ν=1 quantum Hall state.
The large surface-to-volume ratio in atomically thin 2D materials allows to efficiently tune their properties through modifications of their environment. Artificial stacking of two monolayers into a bilayer leads to an overlap of layer-localized wave functions giving rise to a twist angle-dependent hybridization of excitonic states. In this joint theory-experiment study, we demonstrate the impact of interlayer hybridization on bright and momentum-dark excitons in twisted WSe$_2$ bilayers. In particular, we show that the strong hybridization of electrons at the $Λ$ point leads to a drastic reds…
We study the two-dimensional spatially separated electron-hole system with density imbalance at absolute zero temperature. By means of the mean-field theory, we find that the Fulde-Ferrell state is fairly stabilized by the order parameter mixing effect.
We analyze the lineshape of the quasiparticle photoluminescence of monolayer and bilayer molybdenum ditelluride in temperature- and excitation intensity-dependent experiments. We confirm the existence of a negatively charged trion in the bilayer based on its emission characteristics and find hints for a coexistence of intra- and interlayer trions with a few meV splitting in energy. From the lineshape analysis of exciton and trion emission we extract values for exciton and trion deformation potentials as well as acoustical and optical phonon-limited mobilities in MoTe2, with the mobilities show…
We study the kinetics of 2D Bose gas cooling provided Bose particles interact with 3D phonons. At low temperatures phonon emission is prohibited by the energy and the momentum conservation. We show that both particle-particle scattering and impurity scattering assist the Bose gas cooling.
We demonstrate a possibility for exciton Bose-Einstein condensation in individual small-diameter (~1-2 nm) semiconducting carbon nanotubes. The effect occurs under the exciton-interband-plasmon coupling controlled by an external electrostatic field applied perpendicular to the nanotube axis. It requires fields ~1 V/nm and temperatures below 100 K that are experimentally accessible. The effect offers a testing ground for fundamentals of condensed matter physics in one dimension and opens up perspectives to develop tunable coherent polarized light source with carbon nanotubes.
Bilayer electron-hole systems with unequal electron and hole densities are expected to have exciton condensate ground states with spontaneous spin-polarization in both conduction and valence bands. In the absence of spin-orbit and electron-hole exchange interactions there is no coupling between the spin-orientations in the two quantum wells. In this article we show that Rashba spin-orbit interactions lead to unconventional magnetic anisotropies, whose strength we estimate, and to ordered states with unusual quasiparticle spectra.
Spatially indirect excitons with displaced wavefunctions of electrons and holes play a pivotal role in a large portfolio of fascinating physical phenomena and emerging optoelectronic applications, such as valleytronics, exciton spin Hall effect, excitonic integrated circuit and high-temperature superfluidity. Here, we uncover three types of spatially indirect excitons (including their phonon replicas) and their quantum-confined Stark effects in hexagonal boron nitride encapsulated bilayer WSe2, by performing electric field-tunable photoluminescence measurements. Because of different out-of-pla…
We develop a theory of interlayer tunneling in the exciton condensate of bilayer quantum Hall systems, which predicts strongly enhanced, but finite, tunneling conductance peaks near zero bias even at zero temperature. It is emphasized that, though this strongly enhanced tunneling originates from spontaneous interlayer phase coherence, it is fundamentally not the Josephson effect. Because of strong interlayer correlation, the bilayer system behaves as a single system so that conventional tunneling theories treating two layers as independent systems are not applicable. Based on our theory, we co…
We investigate a bilayer system of critical HgTe quantum wells each featuring a spin-degenerate pair of massless Dirac fermions. In the presence of an electrostatic inter-layer Coulomb coupling, we determine the exciton condensate order parameter of the system self-consistently. Calculating the bulk topological $\mathbb Z_2$ invariant of the resulting mean field Hamiltonian, we discover a novel time reversal symmetric topological exciton condensate state coined the helical topological exciton condensate. We argue that this phase can exist for experimentally relevant parameters. Interestingly, …
Understanding the dynamics of excitons in two dimensional semiconductors requires a theory that incorporates the essential physics distinct from their three-dimensional counterparts. In addition to the modified dielectric environment, single-particle states with strongly non-parabolic dispersion appear in many two-dimensional band structures, so that "effective mass" is ill-defined. Focusing on electrostatically-biased bilayer graphene as an example where quartic (and higher) dispersion terms are necessary, we present a semi-analytic theory used to investigate the properties of ground and exci…
Realizing nonlinear optical response in the low photon density limit in solid-state systems has been a long-standing challenge. Semiconductor microcavities in the strong coupling regime hosting exciton-polaritons have emerged as attractive candidates in this context. However, the weak interaction between these quasiparticles has been a hurdle in this quest. Dipolar excitons provide an attractive strategy to overcome this limitation but are often hindered by their weak oscillator strength. The interlayer dipolar excitons in naturally occurring homobilayer MoS$_2$ alleviates this issue owing to …
The interaction of intralayer and interlayer excitons is studied in a two-dimensional semiconductor, homobilayer MoS$_2$. It is shown that the measured optical susceptibility reveals both the magnitude and the sign of the coupling constants. The interlayer exciton interacts capacitively with the intralayer B-exciton (positive coupling constant) consistent with hole tunnelling from one monolayer to the other. Conversely, the interlayer exciton interacts inductively with the intralayer A-exciton (negative coupling constant). First-principles many-body calculations show that this coupling arises …
In this paper, we study a method to obtain non-Abelian FQH state through double-layer FQH states and fractional exciton condensation. In particular, we find that starting with the (330) double-layer state and then increasing the interlayer tunneling strength, we may obtain a single-layer non-Abelian FQH state S(330). We show that the S(330) state is actually the Z_4 parafermion Read-Rezayi state. We also calculate the edge excitation of the S(330) state.
We show how the excitonic features of biaxial MoS2 flakes are very sensitive to biaxial strain. We find a lower bound for the gauge factors of the A exciton and B exciton of (-41 +- 2) meV/% and (-45 +- 2) meV/% respectively, which are larger than those found for single-layer MoS2. Interestingly, the interlayer exciton feature also shifts upon biaxial strain but with a gauge factor that is systematically larger than that found for the A exciton, (-48 +- 4) meV/%. We attribute this larger gauge factor for the interlayer exciton to the strain tunable van der Waals interaction due to the Poisson …
The quantum Hall state at total filling factor $ν_T=1$ in bilayer systems realizes an exciton condensate and exhibits a zero-bias tunneling anomaly, similar to the Josephson effect in the presence of fluctuations. In contrast to conventional Josephson junctions, no Fraunhofer diffraction pattern has been observed, due to disorder induced topological defects, so-called merons. We consider interlayer tunneling in the presence of microwave radiation, and find Shapiro steps in the tunneling current-voltage characteristic despite the presence of merons. Moreover, the Josephson oscillations can also…
Electrons and holes residing on the opposing sides of an insulating barrier and experiencing an attractive Coulomb interaction can spontaneously form a coherent state known as an indirect exciton condensate. We study a trilayer system where the barrier is an antiferromagnetic insulator. The electrons and holes here additionally interact via interfacial coupling to the antiferromagnetic magnons. We show that by employing magnetically uncompensated interfaces, we can design the magnon-mediated interaction to be attractive or repulsive by varying the thickness of the antiferromagnetic insulator b…
The influence of screening on the condensed state of bilayer graphene is studied within the framework of the Thomas Fermi approximation. We find that screening has little effect on the Kosterlitz-Thouless temperature in the strongly interacting regime. Furthermore, we predict that the phase transition to the condensed state is first order.
Exciton condensation, a Bose-Einstein-like condensation of excitons, was recently reported in an electronic double layer (EDL) of graphene. We show that a universal quantum signature for exciton condensation can be used to both identity and quantify exciton condensation in molecular systems from direct calculations of the two-electron reduced density matrix. Computed large eigenvalues in the particle-hole reduced-density matrices of pentacene and hexacene EDLs reveal the beginnings of condensation, suggesting the potential for exciton condensation in smaller scale molecular EDLs.
The structure appearance in exciton density distribution in semiconductor double quantum well with transverse electric field applied is studied, in the case when the metal electrode contains a round window. It is suggested that there is exciton condensed phase, free energy of which can be described by phenomenological Landau model. For the exciton density determination the traditional theory of phase transitions was used generated for the case of the finite exciton lifetime, a presence of the pumping and nonhomogenity of the system. It is shown that at high exciton density the different types …
We study the exciton condensate in zero temperature limit in a special class of electron-hole bilayer systems adjacent to insulating ferromagnetic films. With the self-consistent mean-field approximation, we find that the Rashba spin-orbit interaction in the electron and hole layers can induce the p \pm ip or p pairing states depending on the different magnetization of the overlapped ferromagnetic films. Correspondingly, the topologically nontrivial or trivial phases emerge. Furthermore, in the topologically nontrivial phase, the quasiparticle excitations of the U(1) vortex are attached to fra…
Several recent experiments have reported an anomalous temperature dependence of the Coulomb drag effect in electron-hole bilayers. Motivated by these puzzling data, we study theoretically a low-density electron-hole bilayer, where electrons and holes avoid quantum degeneracy by forming excitonic molecules. We describe the ionization-recombination crossover between the electron-hole plasma and exciton gas and calculate both the intralayer and drag resistivity as a function of temperature. The latter exhibits a minimum followed by a sharp upturn at low temperatures in a qualitative agreement wit…
We propose a generic topological insulator bilayer (TIB) system to study the excitonic condensation with self-consistent mean-field (SCMF) theory. We show that the TIB system presents the crossover behavior from the Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) limit to Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC) limit. Moreover, by comparison with traditional semiconductor systems, we find that for the present system the superfluid property in the BEC phase is more sensitive to electron-hole density imbalance and the BCS phase is more robust. Applying this TIB model into Bi$_{2}$Se$_{3}$-family material, we find that…
A quasi-exciton condensate is a phase characterized by quasi-long range order of an exciton (electron-hole pair) order parameter. Such a phase can arise naturally in a system of two parallel oppositely doped quantum wires, coupled by repulsive Coulomb interactions. We show that the quasi-exciton condensate phase can be stabilized in an extended range of parameters, in both spinless and spinful systems. For spinful electrons, the exciton phase is shown to be distinct from the usual quasi-long range ordered Wigner crystal phase characterized by power-law density wave correlations. The two phases…
Excitons in bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides (2L-TMDs) are Coulomb-bound electron/hole pairs that can be viewed as broadly tunable analogs of atomic or molecular systems. Here, we study the properties of 2L-TMD excitons under strong electric field. To overcome the field limit, reached in previous experiments, we developed a new organic/inorganic molecular gating technique. Our approach allows reaching the field > 0.27 V nm-1, about twice higher than previously available. Under this field inter and intra-layer excitonic are brought into an energetic resonance, allowing us to discover ne…
Using Coulomb drag as a probe, we explore the excitonic phase transition in quantum Hall bilayers at nu=1 as a function of Zeeman energy, E_Z. The critical layer separation d/l for exciton condensation initially increases rapidly with E_Z, but then reaches a maximum and begins a gentle decline. At high E_Z, where both the excitonic phase at small d/l and the compressible phase at large d/l are fully spin polarized, we find that the width of the transition, as a function of d/l, is much larger than at small E_Z and persists in the limit of zero temperature. We discuss these results in the conte…
We report an experimental study of temperature-dependent spectral lineshapes of phonon side-band emission stemming from dark excitons in monolayer and bilayer WSe$_{2}$. Using photoluminescence spectroscopy in the range from 4 to 100K, we observe a pronounced asymmetry in the phonon-assisted luminescence from momentum-indirect exciton reservoirs. We demonstrate that the corresponding spectral profiles are distinct from those of bright excitons with direct radiative decay pathways. The lineshape asymmetry reflects thermal distribution of exciton states with finite center-of-mass momenta, charac…
When two sheets of graphene stack in a twisted bilayer graphene (tBLG) configuration, the resulting constrained overlap between interplanar 2p orbitals produce angle-tunable electronic absorption resonances. Using a novel combination of multiphoton transient absorption (TA) microscopy and TEM, we resolve the resonant electronic structure, and ensuing electronic relaxation inside single tBLG domains. Strikingly, we find that the transient electronic population in resonantly excited tBLG domains is enhanced many fold, forming a major electronic relaxation bottleneck. 2-photon TA microscopy shows…
Interlayer valley excitons in bilayer MoS2 feature concurrently large oscillator strength and long lifetime, and hence represent an advantageous scenario for valleytronic applications. However, control of valley pseudospin of interlayer excitons in pristine bilayer MoS2, which lies at the heart of valleytronics, has remained elusive. Here we report the observation of highly circularly polarized photoluminescence from interlayer excitons of bilayer MoS2 with both optical and magnetic addressability. Under excitation of circularly polarized light near exciton resonance, interlayer excitons of bi…
We have succeeded in trapping indirect excitons in coupled quantum wells in a harmonic potential minimum via inhomogeneous applied stress and electric field. These excitons exhibit a strong Stark shift (over 60 meV), long lifetime (100 ns), and high diffusivity (1000 cm$^2$/s). This approach is very promising for obtaining the high exciton density needed for Bose condensation of excitons in two dimensions.
Experiments aimed at demonstrating Bose-Einstein condensation of excitons in two types of experiments with bilayer structures (coupled quantum wells) are reviewed, with an emphasis on the basic effects. Bose-Einstein condensation implies the existence of a macroscopic coherence, also known as off-diagonal long-range order, and proposed tests and past claims for coherence in these excitonic systems are discussed.
We investigate the process of condensation of exciton-polaritons in a one-dimensional nanowire, predicting spontaneous formation of domains of uncondensed excitons and condensed polaritons. We demonstrate a universal scaling law for the density of domains, which results from the competition between characteristic timescales present in the system. However, we find that the system does not follow the standard Kibble-Żurek scenario of a nonequilibrium phase transition.
While valleys (energy extrema) are present in all band structures of solids, their preeminent role in determining exciton resonances and dynamics in atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) is unique. Using two-dimensional coherent electronic spectroscopy, we find that exciton decoherence occurs on a much faster time scale in MoSe$_2$ bilayers than that in the monolayers. We further identify two population relaxation channels in the bilayer, a coherent and an incoherent one. Our microscopic model reveals that phonon-emission processes facilitate scattering events from the $K$ va…
The non elementary-boson nature of excitons controls Bose-Einstein condensation in semiconductors. Composite excitons interact predominantly through Pauli exclusion; this produces dramatic couplings between bright and dark states. In microcavities, where bright excitons and photons form polaritons, they force the condensate to be linearly polarized--as observed. In bulk, they also force linear polarization, but of dark states, due to interband Coulomb scatterings. To evidence this dark condensate, we thus need indirect processes, like the shift it induces on the (bright) exciton line.
Tunneling spectroscopy reveals evidence for interlayer electron-hole correlations in quantum Hall bilayer two-dimensional electron systems at layer separations near, but above, the transition to the incompressible exciton condensate at total Landau level filling $ν_T=1$. These correlations are manifested by a non-linear suppression of the Coulomb pseudogap which inhibits low energy interlayer tunneling in weakly-coupled bilayers. The pseudogap suppression is strongest at $ν_T=1$ and grows rapidly as the critical layer separation for exciton condensation is approached from above.
The concept of quantum plasmonic excitations in plasmonic lattices, which similarly to Frenkel excitons in molecular crystals propagate by hopping from one nanoparticle to another, is introduced. A consistent quantum theory of such plasmonic excitons, beginning with the quantization of localized surface plasmons in a metal nanoparticle and including the radiative relaxation in both 1D and 2D lattices near a reflective substrate surface, is developed. A possible room-temperature Bose-Einstein condensation in the quantum gas of plasmonic excitons is also discussed.
This tutorial paper reviews some of the physics of quantum Hall bilayers with a focus on the case where there is low or zero tunnelling between the two layers. We describe the interlayer coherent states at filling factors nu=1 and nu=2 as exciton condensates and discuss some of the theory associated with these states.
The optical properties of monolayer and bilayer transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors are governed by excitons in different spin and valley configurations, providing versatile aspects for van der Waals heterostructures and devices. We present experimental and theoretical studies of exciton energy splittings in external magnetic field in neutral and charged WSe$_2$ monolayer and bilayer crystals embedded in a field effect device for active doping control. We develop theoretical methods to calculate the exciton $g$-factors from first principles and tight-binding for all possible spin-va…
We demonstrate that counterflowing electrical currents can move through the bulk of the excitonic quantized Hall phase found in bilayer two-dimensional electron systems (2DES) even as charged excitations cannot. These counterflowing currents are transported by neutral excitons which are emitted and absorbed at the inner and outer boundaries of an annular 2DES sample via an Andreev reflection process.
We propose a state of excitonic solid for double layer two dimensional electron hole systems in transition metal dicalcogenides stacked on opposite sides of thin layers of BN. Properties of the exciton lattice such as its Lindemann ratio and possible supersolid behaviour are studied. We found that the solid can be stabilized relative to the fluid by the potential due to the BN.
Interaction induced topological states remain one of the fascinating phases in condensed matter physics. The exciton condensate has recently sparked renewed interest due to the discovery of new candidate materials and its driving force to realize exotic topological states. In this work, we explore the exciton orders induced high-order topology in the bilayer quantum spin Hall insulators and find that the topological excitonic corner states can be realized by tuning the gate and magnetic field. When an in-plane Zeeman field is applied to the system, two or four excitonic boundary-obstructed cor…
Angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) is a powerful probe of electron correlations in two-dimensional layered materials. In this Letter we demonstrate that ARPES can be used to probe the onset of exciton condensation in spatially-separated systems of electrons and holes created by gating techniques in either double-layer graphene or topological-insulator thin films.
