Sensitive Phonon-Based Probe for Structure Identification of 1T' MoTe2.

In this work, by combining transmission electron microscopy and polarized Raman spectroscopy for the 1T' MoTe2 flakes with different thicknesses, we found that the polarization dependence of Raman intensity is given as a function of excitation laser wavelength, phonon symmetry, and phonon frequency, but has weak dependence on the flake thickness from few-layer to multilayer. In addition, the frequency of Raman peaks and the relative Raman intensity are sensitive to flake thickness, which manifests Raman spectroscopy as an effective probe for thickness of 1T' MoTe2. Our work demonstrates that polarized Raman spectroscopy is a powerful and nondestructive method to quickly identify the crystal structure and thickness of 1T' MoTe2 simultaneously, which opens up opportunities for the in situ probe of anisotropic properties and broad applications of this novel material.

Anisotropic Electron-Photon and Electron-Phonon Interactions in Black Phosphorus.

Orthorhombic black phosphorus (BP) and other layered materials, such as gallium telluride (GaTe) and tin selenide (SnSe), stand out among two-dimensional (2D) materials owing to their anisotropic in-plane structure. This anisotropy adds a new dimension to the properties of 2D materials and stimulates the development of angle-resolved photonics and electronics. However, understanding the effect of anisotropy has remained unsatisfactory to date, as shown by a number of inconsistencies in the recent literature. We use angle-resolved absorption and Raman spectroscopies to investigate the role of anisotropy on the electron-photon and electron-phonon interactions in BP. We highlight, both experimentally and theoretically, a nontrivial dependence between anisotropy and flake thickness and photon and phonon energies. We show that once understood, the anisotropic optical absorption appears to be a reliable and simple way to identify the crystalline orientation of BP, which cannot be determined from Raman spectroscopy without the explicit consideration of excitation wavelength and flake thickness, as commonly used previously.

Deep-ultraviolet Raman scattering spectroscopy of monolayer WS2.

Raman scattering measurements of monolayer WS2 are reported as a function of the laser excitation energies from the near-infrared (1.58 eV) to the deep-ultraviolet (4.82 eV). In particular, we observed several strong Raman peaks in the range of 700∼850 cm-1 with the deep-ultraviolet laser lights (4.66 eV and 4.82 eV). Using the first-principles calculations, these peaks and other weak peaks were appropriately assigned by the double resonance Raman scattering spectra of phonons around the M and K points in the hexagonal Brillouin zone. The relative intensity of the first-order [Formula: see text] to A1g peak changes dramatically with the 1.58 eV and 2.33 eV laser excitations, while the comparable relative intensity was observed for other laser energies. The disappearance of the [Formula: see text] peak with the 1.58 eV laser light comes from the fact that valley polarization of the laser light surpasses the [Formula: see text] mode since the [Formula: see text] mode is the helicity-exchange Raman mode. On the other hand, the disappearance of the A1g peak with the 2.33 eV laser light might be due to the strain effect on the electron-phonon matrix element.

In-Plane Optical Anisotropy of Layered Gallium Telluride.

Layered gallium telluride (GaTe) has attracted much attention recently, due to its extremely high photoresponsivity, short response time, and promising thermoelectric performance. Different from most commonly studied two-dimensional (2D) materials, GaTe has in-plane anisotropy and a low symmetry with the C2h(3) space group. Investigating the in-plane optical anisotropy, including the electron-photon and electron-phonon interactions of GaTe is essential in realizing its applications in optoelectronics and thermoelectrics. In this work, the anisotropic light-matter interactions in the low-symmetry material GaTe are studied using anisotropic optical extinction and Raman spectroscopies as probes. Our polarized optical extinction spectroscopy reveals the weak anisotropy in optical extinction spectra for visible light of multilayer GaTe. Polarized Raman spectroscopy proves to be sensitive to the crystalline orientation of GaTe, and shows the intricate dependences of Raman anisotropy on flake thickness, photon and phonon energies. Such intricate dependences can be explained by theoretical analyses employing first-principles calculations and group theory. These studies are a crucial step toward the applications of GaTe especially in optoelectronics and thermoelectrics, and provide a general methodology for the study of the anisotropy of light-matter interactions in 2D layered materials with in-plane anisotropy.