Research

We focus on semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) as fundamental building blocks for complex quantum systems. In their monolayer form, TMDs exhibit a direct bandgap ranging from the terahertz to the ultraviolet depending on the choice of material. They strongly interact with light to form bound excitons which remain stable and detectable at elevated temperatures. Their reduced dimensionality, combined with large effective carrier masses and low kinetic energy, leads to pronounced electron–electron and electron–exciton interactions. When stacked into multilayer heterostructures, additional excitonic species emerge in which electrons and holes reside in different layers. These properties make TMDs and their heterostructures a highly tunable platform for many-body interactions and strongly correlated quantum phases, including Mott insulators, Wigner crystals, and excitonic insulators.

Our research combines nanofabrication, optics, and electrical transport to realize and study such complex systems.