Abstract
We investigate the interactions of photoexcited carriers with lattice vibrations in thin films of the layered transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) . Employing femtosecond electron diffraction with monocrystalline samples and first-principles density functional theory calculations, we obtain a momentum-resolved picture of the energy transfer from excited electrons to phonons. The measured momentum-dependent phonon population dynamics are compared to first-principles calculations of the phonon linewidth and can be rationalized in terms of electronic phase-space arguments. The relaxation of excited states in the conduction band is dominated by intervalley scattering between valleys and the emission of zone boundary phonons. Transiently, the momentum-dependent electron-phonon coupling leads to a nonthermal phonon distribution, which, on longer time scales, relaxes to a thermal distribution via electron-phonon and phonon-phonon collisions. Our results constitute a basis for monitoring and predicting out of equilibrium electrical and thermal transport properties for nanoscale applications of TMDCs.
- Received 28 February 2017
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.036803
© 2017 American Physical Society