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Kenji Watanabe

Publications and source records attributed to Kenji Watanabe.

At least 253 records · Page 14Linked to original sources

Doping-Induced Brightening of Dark Excitons and Trions in a WSe$_2$ Monolayer

Optically dark excitonic states play a critical role in the valleytronic, electronic, and optical properties of monolayer semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. Here, we investigate how electrostatic doping affects the in-plane magnetic-field-induced activation of dark excitonic complexes in a gated WSe$_2$ monolayer. By continuously tuning the carrier density via gate voltage, we access $n$-type, charge-neutral, and $p$-type regimes and track the corresponding brightening dynamics. We find that the brightening rates of the dark negative trion ($T^{D-}$), dark neutral exciton ($X^{D}$), and dark positive trion ($T^{D+}$) exhibit a strong and nontrivial dependence on doping. In particular, the pronounced asymmetry in the brightening behaviour of the neutral $X^{D}$ complex and the charged $T^{D-}$ and $T^{D+}$ trions reveals distinct underlying carrier interactions, which we describe using a rate-equation model for their steady-state populations. These findings highlight the key role of dark excitonic complexes in governing the optical response and carrier dynamics of doped S-TMD monolayers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Van Hove Singularity-Driven Topological Magnetism in Twisted MoTe2

Van Hove singularities (vHSs) strongly amplify electron interactions and can stabilize correlated phases in topological bands. Here we report signatures of topological magnetism in large-angle twisted bilayer MoTe2 driven by the interplay of vHSs, strong correlations, and valley topology. In a 4.8 degree device, electrostatic tuning to a vHS produces a spontaneous anomalous Hall hot spot near nu = -1. Combined transport and reflective magnetic circular dichroism measurements indicate that this regime is not governed by magnetization alone, but instead emerges from a correlated intervalley-coherent antiferromagnetic state that evolves with doping into a canted phase. With increasing magnetic field, the Hall response develops an additional finite-field component consistent with a topological Hall effect from a noncoplanar spin texture, before transitioning into a C = -1 Chern insulator. Our results establish tunable vHSs in moire topological bands as a route to chiral magnetism and engineering topological phase transitions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Record magnetoresistance, enhanced superconductivity, and fermiology in WTe2

The diverse electronic properties of transition metal chalcogenides can be very sensitive to crystal imperfections. A new crystal growth technique, known as horizontal flux transport, offers a route to improved crystal quality. By refining this technique and applying it to the topological semimetal WTe2, we achieved crystals with an order of magnitude less disorder as determined by electrical transport and scanning tunneling microscopy measurements. At low temperatures these crystals exhibit the largest magnetoresistance reported in a metal. Exfoliated monolayers show quantum oscillations for the first time in the electrostatically doped metallic states, enabling determination of band degeneracies and the valley splitting induced by an electric field. Moreover, they exhibit a gated superconducting dome with a greatly enhanced critical temperature approaching 1.8 K. This advance opens up new avenues for employing WTe2 in topological electronics and gated superconducting devices, and promises comparable breakthroughs with other chalcogenides.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

High-Performance Near-Infrared Quantum Emission from Color Centers in hBN

Color centers hosted in hexagonal boron nitride have emerged as a highly promising platform for single-photon emission and spin-photon technologies relevant to quantum communication and quantum networking. As a wide-bandgap van der Waals material, hBN can host optically active quantum defects across a broad spectral range. Here, we demonstrate a simple and scalable oxygen-plasma process that reproducibly creates single quantum emitters in hBN with blinking-free zero-phonon lines spanning the near-infrared from 700 up to 971 nm. These emitters combine MHz-level brightness, single-photon purity up to 99.9\%, and ultranarrow cryogenic linewidths down to 2.7~GHz under quasi-resonant excitation, placing them in a particularly attractive regime for quantum photonics. Photostability measurements further reveal resistance to photobleaching, sub-nm spectral stability over long timescales, and near-shot-noise-limited intensity fluctuations. Analysis of the phonon sidebands shows weak vibronic coupling and ZPL-dominated emission, with Debye--Waller factors approaching 50\%. Control experiments together with EDS elemental mapping support oxygen incorporation as a necessary ingredient in activating the NIR emitter population, while first-principles calculations identify O$_N$V$_N$ and O$_N$V$_N$H as the leading defect candidates. These results establish a high-performance NIR quantum-emitter platform in hBN for free-space quantum networking and future integrated quantum-photonic architectures.

quant-ph↗

Observation of Unconventional Ferroelectricity in Non-Moir'\e Graphene on Hexagonal Boron Nitride Boundaries and Interfaces

Interfacial interactions in two parallel-stacked hexagonal boron-nitride (hBN) layers facilitate sliding ferroelectricity, enabling novel device functionalities. Additionally, when Bernal or twisted bilayer graphene is aligned with an hBN layer, unconventional ferroelectric behavior was observed, though its precise origin remains unclear. Here, we propose an alternative approach to engineering such an unconventional ferroelectricity in graphene-hBN van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures by creating specific types of hBN boundaries and interfaces. We found that the unconventional ferroelectricity can occur--without the alignments at graphene-hBN or hBN-hBN interfaces--when there are hBN edges or interfaces with line defects. By systematically analyzing the gate dependence of mobile and localized charges, we identified key characteristics of localized states that underlie the observed unconventional ferroelectricity, informing future studies. These findings highlight the complexity of the interfacial interactions in graphene/hBN systems, and demonstrate the potential for defect engineering in vdW heterostructures.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Persistence of large and gate-tunable anisotropic magnetoresistance in an atomically thin antiferromagnet

Anisotropic magnetoresistance (AMR) offers a robust electrical readout of antiferromagnetic (AFM) states, playing a central role in the rapidly advancing field of AFM spintronics. Despite its great versatility, electrical probing of the Néel vector via AMR remains challenging in the ultrathin limit due to interface disorder and reduced dimensionality. Here, we demonstrate electrical readout of the Néel vector down to 1.3 nm (two layers) in the two-dimensional van der Waals (vdW) AFM semiconductor NiPS3. Leveraging spin-flop-mediated rotation of the Néel vector and using both transistor and tunnel-junction device geometries, we identify two distinct AMR contributions in NiPS3, that dominate at low and high charge densities, respectively. We achieve full gate control over these contributions, enabling tunability of both the magnitude and sign of magnetoresistance. Our results establish semiconducting vdW antiferromagnets as a rich platform for studying AMR in the ultrathin limit, opening new avenues for multifunctional AFM spintronic devices.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Directionally Locked Heteroepitaxy with a Structurally Modulated van der Waals Material

Precise orientation of symmetry-mismatched epilayers on van der Waals (vdW) substrates via heteroepitaxy has commonly been achieved through surface treatment processes to accommodate weak interlayer registry and bonding strength, thereby limiting the range of material combinations for heterostructure design. In this study, we investigate the influence of lattice instabilities in a structurally modulated vdW TaCo2Te2 substrate on the growth and alignment of a symmetry-mismatched bulk CoxTey epilayer using in situ heating in a transmission electron microscope (TEM). We show that a Peierls-like lattice instability occurs in TaCo2Te2 at a transition temperature of ~523 K, which was corroborated by phonon calculations. Post-heat-treated samples reveal a thermally induced surface diffusion process and the dominant lateral growth of the CoxTey epilayer on the TaCo2Te2 vdW layers, as observed in cross-sectional TEM images. Temperature-dependent selected area electron diffraction (SAED) patterns reveal that the quasi-vdW CoxTey/TaCo2Te2 heterointerface acquires directional locking by aligning larger interlayer lattice mismatch along the lattice instability axis of TaCo2Te2, while preserving a strong lattice matching along the orthogonal direction. This heterostructure exhibits precise interlayer registry with one-dimensional lattice incommensuration along the lattice instability axis, resulting from structural distortion to accommodate lattice-mismatch strain. Moreover, the interfacial reconstruction of TaCo2Te2 back to the distorted phase stabilizes the lattice-locking of the quasi-vdW heterointerface at elevated temperatures. These findings encourage the expansion of material diversity for designing and predicting novel multi-dimensional heterostructures by leveraging lattice instabilities to guide epitaxy.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Continuous correlated states and dual-flatness in a moiré heterostructure

Many-body effects in condensed matter yield novel quantum states when the electronic density of states is enhanced. A vivid example is flat bands, which suppress kinetic energy and let interactions dominate, when they are filled with an integer number of electrons in moire systems. Yet flat bands and commensurate fillings are not the only conditions for correlated phenomena. Situations may occur where the band structure develops locally enhanced density of states, leading to strong correlations even at non-integer fillings, although such cases often yield pseudogaps that make detection elusive. Here we demonstrate that small-angle twisted monolayer-bilayer graphene combines moire-induced global flat band and additional local band flattening. Their coexistence allows direct comparison of correlated effects. The global route stabilizes commensurate states, while the local mechanism produces nearly flat bands, lifting degeneracy and generating symmetry breaking at non-integer fillings, yet without opening a global gap. Because there is no global gapped signature, the system remains metallic, but the effect reveals itself in anomalous Hall responses, signaling time-reversal symmetry breaking and valley polarization. Our results demonstrate dual-flatness as a guiding principle, extending moire physics beyond commensurate fillings and identifying topological transport as a probe of gapless correlated metals.

cond-mat.str-el↗

Strain-Mediated Lattice Reconstruction Enhances Ferromagnetism in Cr2Ge2Te6/WTe2 van der Waals Heterobilayers

Van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures enable tailored electronic and magnetic phases by stacking atomically thin layers with pristine interfaces. Here, we investigate fully 2D Cr2Ge2Te6/WTe2 heterostructures and identify a strong enhancement of ferromagnetism in Cr2Ge2Te6 (CGT). Magnetotransport measurements across multiple devices with WTe2 thicknesses ranging from monolayer to bulk reveal a robust anomalous Hall effect together with a more than twofold increase of the Curie temperature and substantially enhanced coercive fields. Interface microscopy confirms chemically abrupt vdW interfaces with no detectable interdiffusion, while control experiments rule out processing- or stray-field-induced artifacts. Our experiments and theoretical calculations demonstrate that interfacial charge transfer renders CGT conductive and that proximity-induced lattice distortions in CGT enhance exchange and magnetocrystalline anisotropy. These results establish strain-mediated lattice reconstruction as a strategy for engineering high-temperature magnetic order in 2D heterostructures and clarify that modifications within the magnetic layer itself can govern proximity effects in vdW stacks.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Polymer-free van der Waals assembly of 2D material heterostructures using muscovite crystals

The advent of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures has enabled formation of bespoke materials with atomic precision, where numerous quantum and topological phenomena have already been discovered. This atomic-layer tunability, however, comes at a cost: individual 2D layers must be picked up, moved, and placed in a deterministic manner while keeping their interfaces atomically clean. Recent advances in machine learning and robotics place even stronger emphasis on the deterministic aspect of vdW assembly. Current polymer-based transfer methods satisfy neither the determinism nor cleanliness requirements. To this end, solutions are needed where adhesion can be dynamically and deterministically controlled without leaving organic contamination. Here, we present a polymer free transfer technique employing thin muscovite (mica) crystals. Temperature control over mica adhesion enables deterministic pick-up, stacking, and release of 2D materials, while their crystalline, inorganic nature ensures pristine interfaces and suppresses strain. Fully compatible with existing fabrication workflows, this approach enables the assembly of demanding vdW heterostructures, including those with exposed conductive layers, moiré superlattices and suspended membranes. Our method represents a promising strategy for vdW heterostructure fabrication toward its automatization.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Excitonic Mott transition without population inversion

Exciton dissociation via the excitonic Mott transition (EMT) governs the high-density optical response of semiconductors and sets fundamental limits for optoelectronic devices. The EMT is conventionally linked to the onset of population inversion and the emergence of optical gain. Here, we demonstrate that this paradigm can break down under ultrafast non-equilibrium excitation. Using femtosecond pump-probe optical spectroscopy, we drive a monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide into a dense photoexcited state in which the excitonic resonance is completely quenched within ~100 fs, while the optical gain is entirely absent across the explored fluence range. State-of-the-art real-time ab initio simulations reveal that the EMT is governed by an interplay of strongly nonthermal carrier populations and nonequilibrium dynamical screening of the Coulomb interaction. The quantitative agreement between theory and experiment identifies a distinct, ultrafast pathway to exciton ionization beyond quasi-equilibrium descriptions and demonstrates that population inversion is not a universal prerequisite for the EMT.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Ubiquitous Antiparallel Domains in 2D Hexagonal Boron Nitride Uncovered by Interferometric Nonlinear Optical Imaging

Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) supports a wide range of two-dimensional (2D) technologies, yet assessing its crystalline quality over large areas remains a fundamental challenge. Both antiparallel domains, an intrinsic outcome of epitaxy on high-symmetry substrates, and associated structural defects have long evaded optical detection. Here, we show that interferometric second-harmonic generation (SHG) imaging provides a powerful, nondestructive probe of lattice orientation and structural integrity in chemical vapor deposition-grown hBN. This approach reveals the ubiquitous formation of antiparallel domains and quantifies their impact on crystalline order. SHG intensity also emerges as a direct optical metric of domain disorder, spanning three orders of magnitude across films produced by ten different growth routes. Correlation with Raman spectroscopy establishes a unified framework for evaluating crystalline quality. Beyond hBN, this method offers a high-throughput route to wide-area structural imaging in various non-centrosymmetric materials, advancing their deployment in electronics, photonics, and quantum technologies.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Revealing Strain and Disorder in Transition-Metal Dichalcogenides Using Hyperspectral Photoluminescence Imaging

Hyperspectral photoluminescence (HSPL) imaging provides spatially resolved spectral information for monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), enabling the detection of subtle variations in excitonic features that are not accessible with conventional optical or photoluminescence intensity imaging. We employ HSPL to map the microscopic spatial distribution of strain and disorder in hBN-encapsulated MoSe$_2$ and WSe$_2$ samples. Quantitative extraction of exciton, trion, and biexciton energies and linewidths reveals strain gradients and localized deformations, such as wrinkles and ripples. The technique allows for characterization of regions with uniform optical properties and identification of areas affected by micro-scale disorder, which may be missed by optical microscopy. Measurements on samples with different device architectures and fabrication processes demonstrate the general utility of hyperspectral PL imaging for assessing spatial heterogeneity and optoelectronic quality in two-dimensional materials.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

Deep-UV bleaching of charge disorder in encapsulated graphene

Disorder masks much of the rich physics in two-dimensional electronic systems, with charged impurities often the limiting factor. In graphene, progress in reducing disorder has largely stagnated since boron nitride encapsulation was introduced a decade ago. Here we show that a brief deep-UV exposure enhances the electronic quality of encapsulated graphene - typically by two orders of magnitude - by neutralizing charged impurities within boron nitride. Following illumination, standard graphene devices exhibit numerous evendenominator fractional quantum Hall states, including non-Abelian candidates, and frequently reveal hidden superlattice minibands. Even macroscopically inhomogeneous devices, seemingly unusable for transport studies, recover after deep-UV illumination and display Landau quantization in millitesla fields. This finding provides a straightforward route to exceptional-quality graphene, enabling further exploration of interaction-driven, topological and other quantum phenomena.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Evidence of Metallic Wigner Crystal in Rhombohedral Graphene

When the Coulomb interaction dominates over kinetic energy, electrons can crystallize into a Wigner crystal (WC). This paradigmatic correlated electronic phase has been realized in two-dimensional electron gases with parabolic band dispersion and completely flat Landau levels under high magnetic fields. Beyond these conventional contexts of electron crystallization, more exotic electron crystals have been postulated but remain unexplored. For example, a metallic Wigner crystal (mWC), in which itinerant carriers coexist with a pinned electron lattice, has been proposed theoretically but considered difficult to realize. Non-parabolic electron bands and quantum geometry may facilitate mWC and other novel topological electron crystals. Here we report transport evidence for WC and mWC in rhombohedral tetra-, penta-, and hexalayer graphene in the charge density range 0.3-0.5x10^12 cm^-2. By flattening the conduction band with a gate-controlled displacement field D, we observe an insulating state at nonzero charge density that shows nonlinear, hysteretic current-voltage relations, signatures of a pinned WC, that are absent from the lower-density insulator. Further increasing D reveals transport dominated by hole-like carriers with density up to only 15% of the nominal electron density, consistent with mWC. This mWC state is closely tied to the WC state, as both collapse simultaneously with increasing temperature or bias voltage. The mWC state shows quantum Hall onset near 0.4 T and disobeys the Streda relation, indicating compressible charge exchange between itinerant holes and the transport-inert WC background. Our results establish rhombohedral graphene as a platform for exploring novel electron crystals, as well as possible nontrivial topology, and new collective modes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

Measuring Reactive-Load Impedance with Transmission-Line Resonators Beyond the Perturbative Limit

We develop an analytic framework to extract circuit parameters and loss tangent from superconducting transmission-line resonators terminated by reactive loads, extending analysis beyond the perturbative regime. The formulation yields closed-form relations between resonant frequency, participation ratio, and internal quality factor, removing the need for full-wave simulations. We validate the framework through circuit simulations, finite-element modeling, and experimental measurements of van der Waals parallel-plate capacitors, using it to extract the dielectric constant and loss tangent of hexagonal boron nitride. Statistical analysis across multiple reference resonators, together with multimode self-calibration, demonstrates consistent and reproducible extraction of both capacitance and loss tangent in close agreement with literature values. In addition to parameter extraction, the analytic relations provide practical design guidelines for maximizing energy participation ratio in the load and improving the precision of resonator-based material metrology.

quant-ph↗

Imaging the Meissner effect and local superfluid stiffness in a graphene superconductor

We report the observation of the Meissner effect in a rhombohedral graphene superconductor, realized via direct imaging of the static fringe magnetic field. In our few-micron sample, the onset of superconductivity manifests as a diamagnetic response that screens only $\sim 100$ ppm of the applied magnetic field. Tracking the evolution of the resulting nanotesla-scale fields in real space allows us to observe the entry of superconducting vortices and map the local superfluid stiffness, $ρ_s$. Correlating fringe field signals from both Meissner screening and magnetically ordered states, we show that superconductivity onsets in the midst of a continuous quantum phase transition to a canted spin ferromagnet. Within the superconducting state, we find the temperature dependence of $ρ_s$ to be incompatible with isotropic Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory and the zero-temperature stiffness $ρ_s^0$ to be linearly proportional to $T_c$, constraining future theoretical models of superconductivity in this system.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

Robust valley-polarized excitonic Mott states and doublons enabled by stacking-controlled moiré geometry

Atomically-thin moiré superlattices offer an optically accessible platform for interacting bosons, where strong onsite repulsion $U_{xx}$ suppresses double occupancy and supports excitonic Mott states at unit filling. However, moiré confinement also enhances phonon- and disorder-assisted relaxation, challenging the robustness of these correlated states under dissipation. Here we show that strengthening the intersite exciton repulsion $V_{xx}$ between neighboring moiré cells offers a distinct route to stabilizing unit-filling excitonic Mott states. In H-stacked WSe2/WS2, moiré confinement endows interlayer excitons with an out-of-plane dipole and a pronounced in-plane quadrupolar charge distribution. Helicity-resolved transient photoluminescence, supported by first-principles-informed modelling, reveals that this quadrupolar geometry increases $V_{xx}$ at unit filling by at least a factor of two relative to the dipolar R-stacked excitons. Despite a slight reduction in $U_{xx}$, the enhanced $V_{xx}$ yields a long-lived, valley-polarized excitonic Mott state at unit filling that persists for ~12 ns - more than twice as long as in R-stacks - and remains robust up to ~50 K. Beyond unit filling, the same geometry supports valley-polarized doublons with fourfold longer lifetimes than in R-stacks. These results establish moiré-geometric control of intersite interactions as a route to stabilizing excitonic Mott states and doublons against dissipation in solids.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗