Many-body interactions in photoexcited semiconductors can bring about strongly interacting electronic states, culminating in the fully ionized matter of electron–hole plasma (EHP) and electron–hole liquid (EHL). These exotic phases exhibit unique electronic properties, such as metallic conductivity and metastable high photoexcitation density, which can be the basis for future transformative applications. However, the cryogenic condition required for its formation has limited the study of dense plasma phases to a purely academic pursuit in a restricted parameter space. This paradigm can potentially change with the recent experimental observation of these phases in atomically thin MoS2 and MoTe2 at room temperature. A fundamental understanding of EHP and EHL dynamics is critical for developing novel applications on this versatile layered platform. In this work, we studied the formation and dissipation of EHP in monolayer MoS2. Unlike previous results in bulk semiconductors, our results reveal that electromechanical material changes in monolayer MoS2 during photoexcitation play a significant role in dense EHP formation. Within the free-standing geometry, photoexcitation is accompanied by an unconstrained thermal expansion, resulting in a direct-to-indirect gap electronic transition at a critical lattice spacing and fluence. This dramatic altering of the material’s energetic landscape extends carrier lifetimes by 2 orders of magnitude and allows the density required for EHP formation. The result is a stable dense plasma state that is sustained with modest optical photoexcitation. Our findings pave the way for novel applications based on dense plasma states in two-dimensional semiconductors.

Atomically thin (1L)-MoS 2 emerged as a direct band gap semiconductor with potential optical applications. The photoluminescence (PL) of 1L-MoS 2 degrades due to aging-related defect formation. The passivation of these defects leads to substantial improvement in optical properties. Here, we report the enhancement of PL on aged 1L-MoS 2 by laser treatment. Using photoluminescence and Raman spectroscopy in a gas-controlled environment, we show that the enhancement is associated with efficient adsorption of oxygen on existing sulfur vacancies preceded by removal of adsorbates from the sample's surface. Oxygen adsorption depletes negative charges, resulting in suppression of trions and improved neutral exciton recombination. The result is a 6-to 8-fold increase in PL emission. The laser treatment in this work does not cause any measurable damage to the sample as verified by Raman spectroscopy, which is important for practical applications. Surprisingly, the observed PL enhancement is reversible by both vacuum and ultrafast femtosecond excitation. While the former approach allows switching a designed micropattern on the sample ON and OFF, the latter provides a controllable mean for accurate PL tuning, which is highly desirable for optoelectronic and gas sensing applications.

Light-matter interactions can create and manipulate collective many-body phases in solids 1-3 , which are promising for the realization of emerging quantum applications. However, in most cases these collective quantum states are fragile, with a short decoherence and dephasing time, limiting their existence to precision tailored structures under delicate conditions such as cryogenic temperatures and/or high magnetic fields. In this work, we discovered that the archetypal hybrid perovskite, MAPbI3 thin films, exhibit such a collective coherent quantum many-body phase, namely superfluorescence, at 78 K and above. Pulsed laser excitation first creates a population of high energy electron-hole pairs, which quickly

Nonuniform strain on multilayer transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) nanosheets is an exciting path toward practical optoelectronic devices, as it combines the advantages of localized control of optical and electronic properties with ease of fabrication. However, the weaker photoluminescence (PL) due to their indirect nature poses a challenge to their application. Here, we demonstrate extraordinary enhancement of PL from multilayer MoS2 nanosheets under nonuniform strain generated by nanopillars. We observe charge and exciton funneling to the pillar strain apex. The screening from the increased exciton and charge density lowers the exciton binding energy and renormalizes the band gap. Hence, we attribute the dramatic increase in PL to dissociation of bound excitons to free electron–hole pairs, showing that nonuniform strain on TMDC nanosheets can effectively manipulate the nature of light–matter interaction in these atomically thin materials for application in novel strain-engineered optoelectronics.

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Atomically thin materials exhibit exotic electronic and optical properties. Strong many‐body interactions from the reduced dielectric environment lead to electronic phases that drastically change conductivity and optical response. For example, these many‐body interactions can give rise to the formation of collective states such as Mott metal–insulator transitions, electron–hole liquids and plasmas, and excitonic condensates, which typically occur at cryogenic temperatures and high excitation densities. Herein, it is demonstrated that in monolayer MoS2 at room temperature, a low‐density (1010 cm−2) excitonic gas is formed with continuous wave (CW) below‐gap optical excitation. A slight increase in the excitation fluence triggers a nanosecond phase transition into a dense electron–hole liquid state with three orders of magnitude higher carrier density. This investigation suggests that while the material is in equilibrium with the CW excitation at the threshold fluence, thermomechanical expansion combined with continuous renormalization of the band gap leads to a sudden increase of optical absorption, which initiates runaway exciton ionization and the formation of a high density electron–hole plasma. Such abrupt changes in the excitation density and carrier population can be the basis of unprecedented applications based on 2D materials.

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