Magneto-optical properties of bilayer transition metal dichalcogenides*

In transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) the spin-orbit interaction affects differently the conduction and valence band energies as functions of the wave vector k and the band gap is usually large except in few TMDCs that are metallic without band gaps. Consequently, when a perpendicular magnetic field B is applied, the conduction and valence band Landau levels are also different and this leads to a splitting of the interband optical absorption lines in both the absence and presence of an external electric field Ez. When B and Ez are present, the peaks in the imaginary part of the Hall conductivity give two distinct contributions of opposite sign to the interband spectrum. The real part of the right- and left-handed interband conductivity, however, retains its two-peak structure but the peaks are shifted in energy and amplitude with respect to each other in contrast with graphene.