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Updated: Feb 15, 2026

Electric-field Control of Electronic States in WS2 Nanodevices by Electrolyte Gating
Published on: April 12, 2018
Gate-Controlled Spin-Valley Locking of Resident Carriers in WSe_{2} Monolayers
1National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, Los Alamos National Lab, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA.
Abstract:
Using time-resolved Kerr rotation, we measure the spin-valley dynamics of resident electrons and holes in single charge-tunable monolayers of the archetypal transition-metal dichalcogenide (TMD) semiconductor WSe_{2}. In the n-type regime, we observe long (∼130 ns) polarization relaxation of electrons that is sensitive to in-plane magnetic fields B_{y}, indicating spin relaxation. In marked contrast, extraordinarily long (∼2 μs) polarization relaxation of holes is revealed in the p-type regime, which is unaffected by B_{y}, directly confirming long-standing expectations of strong spin-valley locking of holes in the valence band of monolayer TMDs. Supported by continuous-wave Kerr spectroscopy and Hanle measurements, these studies provide a unified picture of carrier polarization dynamics in monolayer TMDs, which can guide design principles for future valleytronic devices.
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