Strained Monolayer MoTe₂ as a Photon Absorber in the Telecom Range

To achieve the atomistic control of two-dimensional materials for emerging technological applications, such as valleytronics, spintronics, and single-photon emission, it is of paramount importance to gain an in-depth understanding of their structure-property relationships. In this work, we present a systematic analysis, carried out in the framework of density-functional theory, on the influence of uniaxial strain on the electronic and optical properties of monolayer MoTe₂. By spanning a ±10% range of deformation along the armchair and zigzag direction of the two-dimensional sheet, we inspect how the fundamental gap, the dispersion of the bands, the frontier states, and the charge distribution are affected by strain. Under tensile strain, the system remains a semiconductor but a direct-to-indirect band gap transition occurs above 7%. Compressive strain, instead, is highly direction-selective. When it is applied along the armchair edge, the material remains a semiconductor, while along the zigzag direction a semiconductor-to-metal transition happens above 8%. The characteristics of the fundamental gap and wave function distribution are also largely dependent on the strain direction, as demonstrated by a thorough analysis of the band structure and of the charge density. Additional ab initio calculations based on many-body perturbation theory confirm the ability of strained MoTe₂ to absorb radiation in the telecom range, thus suggesting the application of this material as a photon absorber upon suitable strain modulation.