Physical Review X (Apr 2020)

Observation of Quantized Exciton Energies in Monolayer WSe_{2} under a Strong Magnetic Field

  • Tianmeng Wang,
  • Zhipeng Li,
  • Zhengguang Lu,
  • Yunmei Li,
  • Shengnan Miao,
  • Zhen Lian,
  • Yuze Meng,
  • Mark Blei,
  • Takashi Taniguchi,
  • Kenji Watanabe,
  • Sefaattin Tongay,
  • Wang Yao,
  • Dmitry Smirnov,
  • Chuanwei Zhang,
  • Su-Fei Shi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevX.10.021024
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 2
p. 021024

Abstract

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Quantized energy levels are one of the hallmarks of quantum mechanics at the atomic level. The manifestation of quantization in macroscopic physical systems has showcased important quantum phenomena, such as quantized conductance in (fractional) quantum Hall effects and quantized vortices in superconductors. Here we report the first experimental observation of quantized exciton energies in a macroscopic system with strong Coulomb interaction, monolayer WSe_{2} crystal under a strong magnetic field. Employing helicity-resolved magnetoreflectance spectroscopy, we observe a striking ladder of plateaus as a function of the gate voltage for both exciton resonance in one valley and exciton-polariton branch in the opposite valley, thanks to the inter-Landau levels transitions governed by unique valley-selective selection rules. The observed quantized excitation energy level spacing sensitively depends on the doping level, indicating strong many-body effects. Our work will inspire the study of intriguing quantum phenomena originating from the interplay between Landau levels and many-body interactions in two-dimension monolayer crystals.