Excitonic Linewidth Approaching the Homogeneous Limit in MoS2 -Based van der Waals Heterostructures

The strong light-matter interaction and the valley selective optical selection rules make monolayer (ML) MoS[subscript 2] an exciting 2D material for fundamental physics and optoelectronics applications. But, so far, optical transition linewidths even at low temperature are typically as large as a few tens of meV and contain homogeneous and inhomogeneous contributions. This prevented in-depth studies, in contrast to the better-characterized ML materials MoSe[subscript 2] and WSe[subscript 2]. In this work, we show that encapsulation of ML MoS[subscript 2] in hexagonal boron nitride can efficiently suppress the inhomogeneous contribution to the exciton linewidth, as we measure in photoluminescence and reflectivity a FWHM down to 2 meV at T = 4 K. Narrow optical transition linewidths are also observed in encapsulated WS[subscript 2], WSe[subscript 2], and MoSe[subscript 2] MLs. This indicates that surface protection and substrate flatness are key ingredients for obtaining stable, high-quality samples. Among the new possibilities offered by the well-defined optical transitions, we measure the homogeneous broadening induced by the interaction with phonons in temperature-dependent experiments. We uncover new information on spin and valley physics and present the rotation of valley coherence in applied magnetic fields perpendicular to the ML.