Large Spin-Orbit Splitting of Deep In-Gap Defect States of Engineered Sulfur Vacancies in Monolayer WS2

Bruno Schuler, Diana Y. Qiu, Sivan Refaely-Abramson, Christoph Kastl, Christopher T. Chen, Sara Barja, Roland J. Koch, D. Frank Ogletree, Shaul Aloni, Adam M. Schwartzberg, Jeffrey B. Neaton, Steven G. Louie, Alexander Weber-Bargioni

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Structural defects in 2D materials offer an effective way to engineer new material functionalities beyond conventional doping. We report on the direct experimental correlation of the atomic and electronic structure of a sulfur vacancy in monolayer WS2 by a combination of CO-tip noncontact atomic force microscopy and scanning tunneling microscopy. Sulfur vacancies, which are absent in as-grown samples, were deliberately created by annealing in vacuum. Two energetically narrow unoccupied defect states followed by vibronic sidebands provide a unique fingerprint of this defect. Direct imaging of the defect orbitals, together with ab initio GW calculations, reveal that the large splitting of 252 +/- 4 meV between these defect states is induced by spin-orbit coupling.

Original languageEnglish
Article number076801
Number of pages7
JournalPhysical review letters
Volume123
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - 16 Aug 2019

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Large Spin-Orbit Splitting of Deep In-Gap Defect States of Engineered Sulfur Vacancies in Monolayer WS2'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this