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Abstract
The valley pseudospin is a degree of freedom that emerges in atomically thin two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (MX2). The capability to manipulate it, in analogy to the control of spin in spintronics, can open up exciting opportunities. Here, we demonstrate that an ultrafast and ultrahigh valley pseudo-magnetic field can be generated by using circularly polarized femtosecond pulses to selectively control the valley degree of freedom in monolayer MX2. Using ultrafast pump-probe spectroscopy, we observed a pure and valley-selective optical Stark effect in WSe2 monolayers from the nonresonant pump, resulting in an energy splitting of more than 10 milli–electron volts between the K and K′ valley exciton transitions. Our study opens up the possibility to coherently manipulate the valley polarization for quantum information applications.
Using light to manipulate atomic valleys
The electronic structure of atomic layers of transition-metal dichalcogenides, such as WSe2, has two distinct valleys with equal energies. Knowing which valley an electron comes from can make it a carrier of information. Kim et al. used optical methods to distinguish between the valleys. They shone circularly polarized light on a sample of WSe2, which caused the energy needed to create an exciton—a bound state of an electron and a hole—to shift in one valley but not the other. The method may enable the manipulation of the valley degree of freedom for use in quantum information processing.
Science, this issue p. 1205
