Long-range quantum transport of indirect excitons in van der Waals heterostructure

Abstract

Long lifetimes of spatially indirect excitons (IXs), also known as interlayer excitons, make possible long-range IX propagation. Van der Waals heterostructures composed of atomically thin layers of transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) give an opportunity to realize excitons with high binding energies and provide a materials platform for the realization of both excitonic quantum phenomena and excitonic devices. Propagation of IXs in TMD heterostructures is intensively studied. However, in spite of long IX lifetimes, orders of magnitude longer than lifetimes of spatially direct excitons (DXs), a relatively short-range IX propagation with the $1/e$ decay distances $d_{1/e}$ up to few $\mu$m was reported in the studies of TMD heterostructures. The short-range of IX propagation originates from in-plane potentials, which localize excitons and suppress exciton transport. In particular, significant in-plane moir\'e potentials predicted in TMD heterostructures can cause an obstacle for IX propagation. In this work, we realize in a MoSe$_2$/WSe$_2$ heterostructure a macroscopically long-range IX propagation with $d_{1/e}$ reaching $\sim 100$ $\mu$m. The strong enhancement of IX propagation is realized using an optical excitation resonant to DXs in the heterostructure. The strong enhancement of IX propagation originates from the suppression of IX localization and scattering and is observed in the quantum regime.