news & views

Based on the supersonic speed of the wave, This study underlines the importance Valerio Scagnoli is at the Laboratory for Mesoscopic
Först and colleagues argue that the emitted of being able to selectively excite the lattice Systems, Department of Materials, ETH Zurich,
shockwave is of electronic origin; this process to control electronic properties, such as 8093 Zurich, Switzerland, and the Laboratory
is shown in Fig. 1. The phonons excited at the the electrical resistivity of a material or for Micro- and Nanotechnology, Paul Scherrer
LaAlO3 substrate generate electrons at the its magnetic state. Being able to indirectly Institut, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland. Urs Staub
oxide interface (Fig. 1a), which then propagate manipulate the electronic properties through is at the Swiss Light Source, Paul Scherrer Institut,
at supersonic speed into the NdNiO3, a substrate layer offers even more interesting 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland.
destroying its antiferromagnetic ordering options for possible applications. For e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]
(Fig. 1b). The general instability of the metal– example, one could imagine the creation of a
insulator transition in nickelates might be two-dimensional electron gas at an interface References
directly related to the pronounced detrimental on ultrafast timescales. On the other hand, 1. Yang, Z., Ko, C. Y. & Ramanathan, S. Annu. Rev. Mater. Res.
41, 337–367 (2011).
effect of the fast-travelling electrons on the understanding the microscopic origin of 2. Cavalleri, A., Dekorsy, T., Chong, H. H. W., Kieffer, J. C. &
magnetic and electronic properties. It cannot the emission of electrons that occurs at Schoenlein, R. W. Phys. Rev. B 70, 161102(R) (2004).
be fully excluded that the wave travels with the interface remains experimentally and 3. Kim, H-T. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 266401 (2006).
4. Beaud, P. et al. Nature Mater. 13, 923–927 (2014).
the speed of sound, since its value is not really theoretically challenging. Whether such 5. Huber, T. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 026401 (2014).
known in the strained film. This alternative excitations through lattice electronic waves 6. Först, M. et al. Nature Mater. 14, 883–888 (2015).
scenario of a strain wave emitted from the can be created at other interfaces and are 7. Scagnoli, V. et al. Phys. Rev. B 73, 100409(R) (2006).
interface that creates the metal–insulator strong enough to change properties of other 8. García-Muñoz, J. L., Aranda, M. A. G., Alonso, J. A. &
Martínez-Lope, M. J. Phys. Rev. B 79, 134432 (2009).
transition without transporting the heat interesting, strongly correlated materials 9. Scherwitzl, R. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 246403 (2011).
would be equally intriguing. remains an open question. ❐ 10. Caviglia, A. D. et al. Phys. Rev. B 88, 220401 (2013).

2D MATERIALS

Ultrafast exciton dynamics

Time-resolved measurements of the exciton dynamics in tungsten diselenide monolayers reveal ultrafast radiative
recombination of the exciton ground state (~150 fs) and the interplay between optically bright and dark excitons.

Xavier Marie and Bernhard Urbaszek

T
wo-dimensional semiconductor In TMDC monolayers reduced screening transitions between different exciton
structures based on monolayer of the Coulomb interaction and ideal 2D quantum states, as initially demonstrated
transition metal dichalcogenides confinement lead to gigantic exciton binding in bulk germanium and silicon3,4. In
(TMDCs) such as MoS2 and WSe2 show energies Eb ~500 meV, ensuring that the contrast to interband absorption that can
very strong light–matter interaction, excitons are stable at room temperature. be used to measure the ability to generate
with absorption on the order of 10% per The onset of optical absorption is given bound electron–hole pairs, intra-excitonic
monolayer in the visible region of the optical by Eb below the free-carrier bandgap. absorption experiments probe existing
spectrum. This makes these 2D materials Analogous to two-particle complexes such excitons through transitions from the 1s
attractive for optoelectronics applications. as the hydrogen atom, excitons in TMDC ground state to higher relative-momentum
Their optical properties are governed by monolayers possess a centre-of-mass states, such as 2p.
robust excitons, electron–hole pairs tightly momentum K and an internal quantum state In the two-colour pump–probe scheme
bound by Coulomb attraction. Although that accounts for the motion of the electron used by Huber and colleagues, the exciton
indispensable for designing future devices, and the hole relative to each other, with the 1s ground state is photogenerated by a
a clear microscopic understanding of the ground state labelled 1s and the first excited femtosecond pulsed laser and the intra-
exciton structure and recombination is states being 2s and 2p. In contrast, however, excitonic transition is then probed with
still lacking. to the hydrogen atom, the spacing and order a phase-locked mid-infrared pulse. The
Rupert Huber and colleagues report in of the 1s, 2s, 2p, and so on, levels cannot measurements reveal a clear absorption
Nature Materials a detailed investigation be explained with simple Rydberg series, resonance for an infrared photon energy of
of the exciton characteristics in WSe2 as recently shown by one- and two-photon 165 meV. With this photon energy, the 1s
monolayers1. Their ultrafast measurements optical spectroscopy experiments based only exciton can be promoted to the 2p orbital
consist of two steps: first a femtosecond on interband transitions2. exciton resonance, in agreement with the
pump pulse in the visible range creates Despite providing a wealth of 1s–2p energy spacing measured by interband
the exciton in its ground state; second, an information, these optical interband excitation spectroscopy 5.
infrared probe pulse induces a transition measurements are restricted to a small Intra-excitonic transitions 1s → 2p can
from the exciton ground state to an subset of excitons due to symmetry and be induced for all values of the centre-
excited one. These experiments provide momentum conservation: the optically of-mass momentum K, not only for the
new information on both the exciton active excitons that lie in the so-called K ~ 0 excitons within the light cone (bright
dynamics, such as its radiative lifetime, radiative cone with K ~ 0. Huber and states)6. Intra-excitonic resonances can
and on the internal structure of this co-workers investigate for the first time thus provide access to the entire exciton
two-particle complex. in TMDC monolayers intra-excitonic population in momentum space, including

860 NATURE MATERIALS | VOL 14 | SEPTEMBER 2015 | www.nature.com/naturematerials

© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved

 news & views

average radiative lifetime of an exciton

population, resulting from the intricate
2p Energy interplay between bright and dark exciton
populations11, probed by standard interband
spectroscopy such as photoluminescence.
Although the experiments carried out by
2. Infrared probe pulse
Huber and colleagues have been performed
at room temperature, similar investigations
1s Dark excitons at lower temperature and possibly in the
terahertz domain should allow uncovering
Bright excitons of the complementary aspects of the exciton
dynamics and fine-structure. Important
for optoelectronics, these experiments
should help to clarify the origin of the
Recombination time:
1. Visible pump pulse very low emission yield of these TMDC
150 fs
monolayers, which is a key obstacle for real
applications as efficient emitters. In the more
fundamental context of valleytronics, these
two-colour pump–probe experiments will
Momentum help verify exciting predictions such as the
Berry curvature-induced splitting of the 2p
exciton state12. ❐
Figure 1 | Schematic of the two-colour pump–probe experiment that reveals the ultrafast exciton
dynamics in a WSe2 monolayer. A visible pump pulse populates the 1s exciton state, while the infrared Xavier Marie and Bernhard Urbaszek are at the
probe pulse that follows, can promote bright and dark excitons — inside and outside the light cone (blue Laboratory of Physics and Chemistry of Nano-
shading) — to the 2p states. Objects (LPCNO), UMR 5215 INSA-CNRS-UPS,
135 avenue de Rangueil, 31077 Toulouse, France.
e-mail: [email protected];
excitons that appear ‘dark’ in standard typical decay time of 150 fs prevails7. [email protected]
interband spectroscopy (Fig. 1). This decay is considerably shorter than
Huber and co-workers also investigated in other semiconductors due to the very References
the 1s exciton dynamics: as the infrared large exciton oscillator strength in these 1. Poellmann, C. et al. Nature Mater. 14, 889–893 (2015).
pulses that probe the generated atomically flat 2D materials. Attempts 2. He, K. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 026803 (2014).
3. Shaklee, K. L. & Nahory, R. E. Phys. Rev. Lett. 24, 942–945 (1970).
excitons arrive after an experimentally with other time-resolved techniques 4. Ohyama, T. Phys. Rev. B 23, 5545–5453 (1981).
adjustable delay, the 1s → 2p transition were not as conclusive, due to insufficient 5. Wang, G. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 114, 97403 (2015).
is in competition with the 1s exciton time-resolution for photoluminescence 6. Groeneveld, R. H. M. & Grischkowsky, D. J. Opt. Soc. Am.
11, 2502–2507 (1994).
recombination. Bright and dark exciton measurements8,9 or the complexity of 7. Wang, H. et al. Preprint at http://arXiv.org/abs/1409.3996 (2014).
dynamics are governed by distinctly interpretations of many-body interactions 8. Korn, T. et al. Appl. Phys. Lett. 99, 102109 (2011).
different processes: outside the light for pump–probe experiments based 9. Lagarde, D. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 047401 (2014).
10. Shi, H. et al. ACS Nano 7, 1072–1080 (2013).
cone, non-radiative Auger recombination on transmission or reflectivity 10. The 11. Palummo, M. et al. Nano Lett. 15, 2794–2800 (2015).
dominates. For excitons inside the light 150-fs recombination time measured by 12. Srivastava, A. & Imamoglu, A. Preprint at http://arXiv.org/
cone, radiative recombination with a Huber and colleagues is shorter than the abs/1507.04040 (2015).

CANCER TREATMENT

Low-energy electron therapy

The fabrication of a self-sustaining source of low-energy electrons in a single-atom layer could help unravel
fundamental mechanisms of radiobiological damage and lead to improved cancer therapies.

Léon Sanche

I
n radiotherapy, high-energy photons or (LEEs)1. These electrons carry a large that utilize radiation alone and those in
charged particles are directed towards portion of the radiation energy and therefore combination with chemotherapy. Moreover,
cancerous tissue, destroying the malignant drive many of the subsequent changes in the destructive effects of LEEs on vital
cells, but sparing healthy tissue as much the chemistry of the surroundings, which biomolecules, combined with their extremely
as possible. The major products that form can cause damage to cancerous cells. short interaction range (~10 nm), make them
when such high-energy radiation interacts Understanding their interaction mechanisms ideal for targeted cancer therapies2, in which
with a biological environment are ions and in biological media is therefore crucial for the source of radiation is delivered directly
secondary low-energy (0–30 eV) electrons improving cancer treatments, both those to the cancer cells or the tumour. During the

NATURE MATERIALS | VOL 14 | SEPTEMBER 2015 | www.nature.com/naturematerials 861

© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved