TY - CONF A1 - Fiedler, Saskia A1 - Mortensen, N. A. A1 - Wolff, C. A1 - Morozov, S. A1 - Illiushyn, L. A1 - Booth, T. J. A1 - Stenger, N. A1 - Tserkezis, C. T1 - Giant photon bunching of WS2 monolayer in cathodoluminescence N2 - Cathodoluminescence (CL) spectroscopy has become a powerful tool to study nanostructures due to its high spectral and spatial resolution down to sub-nanometer. More recently, CL technique has also been used for second order auto-correlation measurements (g(2)(t)) to identify different single photon emitters and photon bunching in different materials [1-2]. In this work, tungsten disulfide (WS2) monolayers encapsulated in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) with and without monocrystalline Au nanodisks (NDs) have been studied, using CL and PL spectroscopy as well as g(2)-CL- and PL-measurements. CL and PL maps of different WS2 monolayers before/after Au ND deposition show a narrow peak at ~625 nm without any background emission. In CL, the hBN not only protects WS2 from the electron beam but also acts as a charge carrier sink which substantially increases the CL signal [3]. A further CL enhancement is achieved by Au ND deposition, exhibiting the maximum at the center of the NDs without any size dependence. The PL intensity is unaffected. This indicates that Purcell enhancement cannot be the underlying mechanism. Furthermore, a giant CL-photon bunching of the hBN-encapsulated WS2 monolayers is found which is independent of the applied voltage but highly dependent on the electron beam current. At the lowest current of ~2 pA, a CL bunching factor of up to 160 is observed. Varying thicknesses of the surrounding hBN increases the overall CL signal but does not affect the bunching factor, though it exhibits small local changes within the same flake. In contrast, there is no PL correlation (g(2)(0) = 1). Interestingly, this photon bunching can be further increased by Au NDs, resulting in the highest ever observed bunching factor of close to 2200. Once again, this enhancement is independent of the Au ND’s diameter although some disks show higher bunching factors than others. Most likely, the Au acts as shield for the incoming primary electrons, resulting in an even further decreased current, and thereby, increased bunching. In conclusion, large CL-photon bunching is found in hBN-encapsulated WS2 monolayers which can be substantially enhanced by Au NDs. References [1] M.A. Feldmann, E.F. Demitrescu, D. Bridges, M.F. Chisholm, R.B. Davidson, P.G. Evans, J.A. Hachtel, A. Hu, R.C. Pooser, R.F. Haglund, B.J. Lawrie, Phys. Rev. B, 97, 081404(R) (2018) [2] S. Meuret, L.H.G. Tizei, T. Cazimajou, R. Bourrellier, H.C. Chang, F. Treussartm M. Kociak, Phys. Rev. Letter, 114, 197401 (2015) [3] S. Zheng, J.-K. So, F. Liu, Z. Liu, N. Zheludev, H.J. Fan, Nano Lett., 17, 6475-6480 (2017) T2 - GSELOP2021 CY - Paris, France DA - 23.08.2021 KW - Cathodoluminescence KW - Photon bunching KW - 2D materials KW - TMDCs KW - Au nanodisks KW - Transition metal dichalcogenide KW - Au nanoparticles PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-53153 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -