Many-body theory of trion absorption features in two-dimensional semiconductors

Monolayer two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDCs) exhibit exceptionally strong spin-orbit and electron-electron interaction effects and have provided a rich new playground for the exploration of exciton physics. Recent experiments have demonstrated that in the presence of excess charge carriers the prominent excitonic features in optical absorption split into two separate peaks. The appearance of the additional peak is usually attributed to the presence of trions, charged fermionic quasiparticles formed by binding two electrons to one hole or two holes to one electron. The authors here argue that in the density range for which amplitudes of two peaks are comparable three-particle physics is of importance, and the appropriate picture is one of excitons interacting with the Fermi sea formed by additional charge carriers. These interactions result in the dressing of excitons into exciton-polarons. The exciton spectrum splits into a lower energy attractive exciton-polaron branch, normally identified as a trion branch, and a higher energy repulsive exciton-polaron branch, normally identified as an exciton branch. The authors provide a complete theory of absorption, which incorporates both static and dynamic effects of Fermi sea, and analyze frequency and doping dependence of optical conductivity in detail. The calculated density dependence of peak splitting and their amplitudes and widths are in agreement with recent experiments.