Spatial control of photoluminescence at room temperature by ferroelectric domains in monolayer WS2/PZT hybrid structures

Abstract

Single-monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides exhibit exceptionally strong photoluminescence (PL), dominated by a combination of distinct neutral and charged exciton contributions. We show here that the surface charge associated with ferroelectric domains patterned into a lead zirconium titanate film with an atomic force microscope laterally controls the spatial distribution of neutral and charged exciton populations in an adjacent WS2 monolayer. This is manifested by the intensity and spectral composition of the PL measured in air at room temperature from the areas of WS2 over a ferroelectric domain with a polarization dipole pointed either out of the surface plane or into the surface plane. This approach enables spatial modulation of PL intensity and trion/ neutral exciton populations and fabrication of lateral quantum dot arrays in any geometry, with potential applications in nonvolatile optically addressable memory or optical quantum computation.