Dissertation Defense: Eli Adler
Candidate: Eli Adler
Major: Physics
Advisor: Paola Barbara, Ph.D.
Title: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Effects on Excitonic Emmissions in Monolayer Transition Metal Dichalcogenides for Next Generation Optoelectronic Applications
Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) like WS2 and MoS2 have unique light-matter interactions due to quantum confinement and reduced dielectric screening. These ultra-thin materials are semiconductors with a direct band gap in the visible regime. Upon illumination, electrons and holes are excited and are strongly bound to each other forming an exciton. When the electron and hole of an exciton recombine, light is emitted. The emissions from excitons unveil a complex family of neutral and charged excitons which are highly sensitive to intrinsic and extrinsic factors including the population, temperature, material impurities, molecular adsorbents, and electrostatic gating.