Tip-Induced and Electrical Control of the Photoluminescence Yield of Monolayer WS<sub>2</sub>.

Peña Román, Ricardo Javier; Bretel, Rémi; Pommier, Delphine; Parra López, Luis Enrique; Lorchat, Etienne; Boer-Duchemin, Elizabeth; Dujardin, Gérald; Borisov, Andrei G et al. · Nano Lett · 2022

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

The photoluminescence (PL) of monolayer tungsten disulfide (WS<sub>2</sub>) is locally and electrically controlled using the nonplasmonic tip and tunneling current of a scanning tunneling microscope (STM). The spatial and spectral distribution of the emitted light is determined using an optical microscope. When the STM tip is engaged, short-range PL quenching due to near-field electromagnetic effects is present, independent of the sign and value of the bias voltage applied to the tip-sample tunneling junction. In addition, a bias-voltage-dependent long-range PL quenching is measured when the sample is positively biased. We explain these observations by considering the native n-doping of monolayer WS<sub>2</sub> and the charge carrier density gradients induced by electron tunneling in micrometer-scale areas around the tip position. The combination of wide-field PL microscopy and charge carrier injection using an STM opens up new ways to explore the interplay between excitons and charge carriers in two-dimensional semiconductors.