We demonstrate robust optical bistability, the phenomenon of two well-discriminated stable states depending upon the history of the optical input, in fully suspended monolayers of WSe2 at low temperatures near the exciton resonance. Optical bistability has been achieved under continuous-wave optical excitation that is red-detuned from the exciton resonance at an intensity level of 103 W/cm2. The observed bistability is originated from a photothermal mechanism, which provides both optical nonlinearity and passive feedback, two essential elements for optical bistability. The low thermal conductance of suspended samples is primarily responsible for the low excitation intensities required for optical bistability. Under a finite out-of-plane magnetic field, the exciton bistability becomes helicity dependent due to the exciton valley Zeeman effect, which enables repeatable switching of the sample reflectance by light polarization. Our study has opened up exciting opportunities in controlling light with light, including its wavelength, power, and polarization, using monolayer semiconductors.
Keywords: 2D semiconductor; Optical bistability; exciton; suspended monolayer; transition metal dichalcogenide; valley.