Nanoscale trapping of interlayer excitons in a 2D semiconductor heterostructure

For quantum information applications utilizing single excitons and spins, the deterministic placement and control of a single optically driven quantum dot is a long standing goal. MoSe2-WSe2 heterostructures host spatially indirect interlayer excitons (IXs) which exhibit significantly longer lifetimes than monolayer excitons and unique spin-valley physics, making them promising candidates for quantum information applications. Previous IX trapping approaches involving moir\'e superlattices and nanopillars do not meet the requirements for deterministic placement, nanoscale confinement, and energy tunability. Here, we use a nanopatterned graphene gate to create a sharply varying electric field in close proximity to a MoSe2-WSe2 heterostructure. The interaction between the permanent dipole moment of the IX and the electric field creates a deterministically placed, ~20 nm wide trap for the IXs. The trapped IXs show the predicted electric field dependent energy, saturation at low excitation power, and increased lifetime, all signatures of strong spatial confinement. Our architecture can realize deterministic trapping of single IXs, which has broad applications to on-chip scalable quantum information processing based on IX quantum dots.