Bright and Dark Exciton Coherent Coupling and Hybridization Enabled by External Magnetic Fields

Magnetic field- and polarization-dependent measurements on bright and dark excitons in monolayer WSe₂ combined with time-dependent density functional theory calculations reveal intriguing phenomena. Magnetic fields up to 25 T parallel to the WSe₂ plane lead to a partial brightening of the energetically lower lying exciton, leading to an increase of the dephasing time. Using a broadband femtosecond pulse excitation, the bright and partially allowed excitonic state can be excited simultaneously, resulting in coherent quantum beating between these states. The magnetic fields perpendicular to the WSe₂ plane energetically shift the bright and dark excitons relative to each other, resulting in the hybridization of the states at the K and K′ valleys. Our experimental results are well captured by time-dependent density functional theory calculations. These observations show that magnetic fields can be used to control the coherent dephasing and coupling of the optical excitations in atomically thin semiconductors.