Tunable Exciton-Optomechanical Coupling in Suspended Monolayer MoSe<sub>2</sub>.

Xie, Hongchao; Jiang, Shengwei; Rhodes, Daniel A; Hone, James C; Shan, Jie; Mak, Kin Fai · Nano Lett · 2021

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The strong excitonic effect in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductors has enabled many fascinating light-matter interaction phenomena. Examples include strongly coupled exciton-polaritons and nearly perfect atomic monolayer mirrors. The strong light-matter interaction also opens the door for dynamical control of mechanical motion through the exciton resonance of monolayer TMDs. Here, we report the observation of exciton-optomechanical coupling in a suspended monolayer MoSe<sub>2</sub> mechanical resonator. By moderate optical pumping near the MoSe<sub>2</sub> exciton resonance, we have observed optical damping and antidamping of mechanical vibrations as well as the optical spring effect. The exciton-optomechanical coupling strength is also gate-tunable. Our observations can be understood in a model based on photothermal backaction and gate-induced mirror symmetry breaking in the device structure. The observation of gate-tunable exciton-optomechanical coupling in a monolayer semiconductor may find applications in nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) and in exciton-optomechanics.