Absorption of light by excitons and trions in monolayers of metal dichalcogenide MoS2: Experiments and theory

We measure the optical-absorption spectra and optical conductivities of excitons and trions in monolayers of metal dichalcogenide MoS2 and compare the results with theoretical models. Our results show that the Wannier-Mott model for excitons with modifications to account for small exciton radii and large exciton relative wave function spread in momentum space, phase space blocking due to Pauli exclusion in doped materials, and wave-vector-dependent dielectric constant gives results that agree well with experiments. The measured exciton optical-absorption spectra are used to obtain experimental estimates for the exciton radii that fall in the 7–10 Å range and agree well with theory. The measured trion optical-absorption spectra are used to obtain values for the trion radii that also agree well with theory. The measured values of the exciton and trion radii correspond to binding energies that are in good agreement with values obtained from first-principles calculations.