Indirect excitons in van der Waals heterostructures at room temperature

Indirect excitons (IXs) are explored both for studying quantum Bose gases in semiconductor materials and for the development of excitonic devices. IXs were extensively studied in III–V and II–VI semiconductor heterostructures where IX range of existence has been limited to low temperatures. Here, we present the observation of IXs at room temperature in van der Waals transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) heterostructures. This is achieved in TMD heterostructures based on monolayers of MoS2 separated by atomically thin hexagonal boron nitride. The IXs we realize in the TMD heterostructure have lifetimes orders of magnitude longer than lifetimes of direct excitons in single-layer TMD and their energy is gate controlled. The realization of IXs at room temperature establishes the TMD heterostructures as a material platform both for a field of high-temperature quantum Bose gases of IXs and for a field of high-temperature excitonic devices. Indirect excitons, composed of a spatially separated electron and hole, could find applications in excitonic devices for signal processing and communication, however they are normally detected at low temperatures. Here, the authors observe room-temperature indirect excitons in van der Waals transition metal dichalcogenide heterostructures.