Optical Modification of TMD Heterostructures

Optical modification is a fast, cost-effective, and scalable approach to tailoring the physical properties of two-dimensional (2D) materials for various applications. However, most previous efforts have focused on modifying individual 2D materials, which fails to utilize the method to its fullest potential. In this paper, heterostructures composed of hBN-capped molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe₂) and molybdenum disulfide (MoS₂) are optically modified with a continuous wave laser. The process simultaneously thins MoS₂ and induces clustering of tellurium atoms from the ablated MoTe₂. These structural changes result in significant enhancements of the physical properties, including a 43-fold increase in MoS₂ photoluminescence and the transformation of the heterojunction into an anti-ambipolar transistor. These findings highlight a previously unutilized pathway to tune the heterostructure properties for applications in novel electronics and optoelectronics.