Stark Effects of Rydberg Excitons in a Monolayer WSe2 P-N Junction

Abstract: The enhanced Coulomb interaction in two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors leads to the tightly bound electron-hole pairs known as excitons. The large binding energy of excitons enables the formation of Rydberg excitons with high principal quantum numbers (n), analogous to Rydberg atoms. Rydberg excitons possess strong interactions among themselves, as well as sensitive responses to external stimuli. Here, we probe Rydberg exciton resonances through photocurrent spectroscopy in a monolayer WSe2 p-n junction formed by a split-gate geometry. We show that an external in-plane electric field not only induces a large Stark shift of Rydberg excitons up to quantum principal number n=3 but also mixes different orbitals and brightens otherwise dark states such as 3p and 3d. Our study provides an exciting platform for engineering Rydberg excitons for new quantum states and quantum sensing.