The role of electron-phonon interactions on the coherence lifetime of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides

Abstract We investigate the excitonic dephasing of transition metal dichalcogenides, namely MoS 2 , MoSe 2 and WSe 2 atomic monolayer thick and bulk crystals, in order to understand the factors that determine the optical coherence in these materials. Coherent nonlinear optical spectroscopy, temperature dependent absorption combined with theoretical calculations of the phonon spectra, reveal the important role electron-phonon interactions plat in dephasing process. The temperature dependence of the electronic band gap and the excitonic linewidth combined with ‘ ab initio ’ calculations of the phonon energies and the phonon density of state reveal strong interaction with the E′ and E″ phonon modes.