Tunneling Induced Luminescence Investigation of Single Photon Emitters in 2D Semiconductors*

Single photon emitters (SPE) are important components for various opto-electronic applications and quantum technologies. Defects in 2D materials such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are promising candidates as SPEs due to their topographical flexibility, high binding energy and brightness. Their SPE characteristics can be enhanced via defect-engineering and environmental influences [1-3]. Here, we use scanning tunneling microscope induced luminescence (STML) to study the local optical properties of WSe₂ (a wide band gap 2D semiconductor), including how the optical response can be varied through environmental manipulation [3]. By studying WSe₂ samples that are isolated from a conductive substrate, we will show how quenching can be reduced in STML measurements, while plasmonic enhancement from the SPM tip can still be maintained. [2,3].

1) Michaelis de Vasconcellos et al, Physica status solidi 4, 2100566 (2022) DOI:10.1002/pssb.202100566

2) Luca Sortino et al, Nat Commun 12, 6063 (2021) DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-26262-3

3) Renoud Pechou et al, ACS Photonics 7, 3061-3070 (2020) DOI:https://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/acsphotonics.0c01101