Abstract
We demonstrate a new approach for dynamically manipulating the optical response of an atomically thin semiconductor, a monolayer of , by suspending it over a metallic mirror. First, we show that suspended van der Waals heterostructures incorporating a monolayer host spatially homogeneous, lifetime-broadened excitons. Then, we interface this nearly ideal excitonic system with a metallic mirror and demonstrate control over the exciton-photon coupling. Specifically, by electromechanically changing the distance between the heterostructure and the mirror, thereby changing the local photonic density of states in a controllable and reversible fashion, we show that both the absorption and emission properties of the excitons can be dynamically modulated. This electromechanical control over exciton dynamics in a mechanically flexible, atomically thin semiconductor opens up new avenues in cavity quantum optomechanics, nonlinear quantum optics, and topological photonics.
- Received 12 May 2019
- Revised 12 September 2019
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.124.027401
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