Edge optical scattering of two-dimensional materials

Abstract

Rayleigh scattering has shown powerful abilities to study electron resonances of nanomaterials regardless of the specific shapes. In analogy to Rayleigh scattering, here we demonstrate that edge optical scattering from two-dimensional (2D) materials also has the similar advantage. Our result shows that, in visible spectral range, as long as the lateral size of a 2D sample is larger than 2 {\mu}m, its edge scattering is essentially a knife-edge diffraction, and the intensity distribution of the high-angle scattering in $\mathbf{k}$ space is nearly independent of the lateral size and the shape of the 2D samples. The high-angle edge scattering spectra are purely determined by the intrinsic dielectric properties of the 2D materials. As an example, we experimentally verify this feature in single-layer $MoS_{2}$, in which A and B excitons are clearly detected in the edge scattering spectra, and the scattering images in $\mathbf{k}$ space and real space are consistent with our theoretical model. This study shows that the edge scattering is a highly practical and efficient method for optical studies of various 2D materials as well as thin films with clear edges.