Room-Temperature Electron-Hole Liquid in Monolayer MoS2.

Abstract

Excitons in semiconductors are usually non-interacting and behave like an ideal gas, but may condense to a strongly-correlated liquid-like state, i.e. electron-hole liquid (EHL), at high density and appropriate temperature. EHL is a macroscopic quantum state with exotic properties and represents the ultimate attainable charge excitation density in steady states. It bears great promise for a variety of fields such as ultrahigh-power photonics and quantum science and technology. However, the condensation of gas-like excitons to EHL has often been restricted to cryogenic temperatures, which significantly limits the prospect of EHL for use in practical applications. Herein we demonstrate the formation of EHL at room temperature in monolayer MoS2 by taking advantage of the monolayer s extraordinarily strong exciton binding energy. This work demonstrates the potential for the liquid-like state of charge excitations to be a useful platform for the studies of macroscopic quantum phenomena and the development of optoelectronic devices.