Effect of Band Symmetry on Photocurrent Production in Quasi-One-Dimensional Transition-Metal Trichalcogenides

Simeon J Gilbert; Hemian Yi; Jia-Shiang Chen; Andrew J Yost; Archit Dhingra; Jehad Abourahma; Alexey Lipatov; Jose Avila; Takashi Komesu; Alexander Sinitskii; Maria C Asensio; Peter A Dowben

doi:10.1021/acsami.0c11892

Effect of Band Symmetry on Photocurrent Production in Quasi-One-Dimensional Transition-Metal Trichalcogenides

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2020 Sep 9;12(36):40525-40531. doi: 10.1021/acsami.0c11892. Epub 2020 Aug 28.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0299, United States.
² Synchrotron SOLEIL and Université Paris-Saclay, L'Orme des Merisiers, BP48, 91190 Saint-Aubin, France.
³ Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, 11973 Upton, New York, United States.
⁴ Department of Physics, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078-3072, United States.
⁵ Department of Chemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588-0304, United States.
⁶ Materials Science Institute of Madrid (ICMM), Spanish Scientific Research Council (CSIC), Valencia Institute of Materials Science (ICMUV), MATINEE: CSIC Associated Unit-ICMM-ICMUV Valencia University, Cantoblanco, E-28049 Madrid, Spain.

PMID: 32805799
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.0c11892

Abstract

Photocurrent production in quasi-one-dimensional (1D) transition-metal trichalcogenides, TiS₃(001) and ZrS₃(001), was examined using polarization-dependent scanning photocurrent microscopy. The photocurrent intensity was the strongest when the excitation source was polarized along the 1D chains with dichroic ratios of 4:1 and 1.2:1 for ZrS₃ and TiS₃, respectively. This behavior is explained by symmetry selection rules applicable to both valence and conduction band states. Symmetry selection rules are seen to be applicable to the experimental band structure, as is observed in polarization-dependent nanospot angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy. Based on these band symmetry assignments, it is expected that the dichroic ratios for both materials will be maximized using excitation energies within 1 eV of their band gaps, providing versatile polarization sensitive photodetection across the visible spectrum and into the near-infrared.

Keywords: 2D materials; band symmetries; phototransistors; polarization dependence; trichalcogenides.