Nanoscale Trapping of Interlayer Excitons in a 2D Semiconductor Heterostructure

For quantum technologies based on single excitons and spins, the deterministic placement and control of a single exciton is a longstanding goal. MoSe₂-WSe₂ heterostructures host spatially indirect interlayer excitons (IXs) that exhibit highly tunable energies and unique spin-valley physics, making them promising candidates for quantum information processing. Previous IX trapping approaches involving moiré superlattices and nanopillars do not meet the quantum technology requirements of deterministic placement 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 dipole interaction between the IX and the electric field creates an ∼20 nm trap. The trapped IXs show the predicted electric-field-dependent energy, saturation at low excitation power, and increased lifetime, all signatures of strong spatial confinement. The demonstrated architecture is a crucial step toward the deterministic trapping of single IXs, which has broad applications to scalable quantum technologies.