Electroluminescence from multi-particle exciton complexes in transition metal dichalcogenide semiconductors

Abstract: Light emission from higher-order correlated excitonic states has been recently reported in hBN-encapsulated monolayer WSe2 and WS2 upon optical excitation. These exciton complexes are found to be bound states of excitons residing in opposite valleys in momentum space, a promising feature that could be employed in valleytronics or other novel optoelectronic devices. However, electrically-driven light emission from such exciton species is still lacking. Here we report electroluminescence from bright and dark excitons, negatively charged trions and neutral and negatively charged biexcitons, generated by a pulsed gate voltage, in hexagonal boron nitride encapsulated monolayer WSe2 and WS2 with graphene as electrode. By tailoring the pulse parameters we are able to tune the emission intensity of the different exciton species in both materials. We find the electroluminescence from charged biexcitons and dark excitons to be as narrow as 2.8 meV.