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Description
Atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are new and exciting materials which share many interesting features with graphene, yet since they belong to semiconductors family they are much better suited for optoelectronic applications such as light emitters and photodetectors. Moreover, due to peculiarities of their structure, the polarization of light absorbed (or emitted) by those materials is related to the motion of electrons inside them in a very specific way. This unique property opens a new field of optoelectronics called “valleytronics” in analogy to spintronics. In spintronics the storage and manipulation of information is based on electron''s spin, while TMDs offer the additional possibility to encode information in an electron''s valley. The aim of this project is to combine state-of-the-art experimental methods to perform a comprehensive study of valley relaxation in a variety of novel TMD systems. On one hand, as a main tool to measure the valley relaxation the researchers will use the valley noise spectroscopy – a novel technique recently pioneered by the Principal Investigator. On the other hand, the focus will be put on TMD structures prepared with unique methods, including Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE). The use of MBE technique to fabricate atomically thin TMD layers of high quality was recently pioneered by researchers from the Host Institution (the University of Warsaw), which is currently the only place in the world where such capability is available. Combination of the experience of the Principal Investigator related to unique measurement techniques, together with novel fabrication methods developed at Host Institution, is anticipated to give unprecedented insight into the valley relaxation mechanisms in monolayer TMD structures. This, in turn, will advance the quest for robust and efficient valleytronic memories and information processing devices.