Thin tungsten telluride layer preparation by thermal annealing.

We report a simple method to prepare a thin Tungsten Telluride (WTe2) flake with accurate thickness control, which allows preparing and studying this two dimensional material conveniently. First, the WTe2 flake, which is relatively thick due to its strong interlayer van der Waals forces, is obtained by a conventional mechanical exfoliation method. Then, the exfoliated flake is annealed at 600 °C under a constant Ar protecting flow. Raman and atomic force spectroscopy characterizations demonstrate that thermal annealing can effectively thin down the WTe2 flake and retain its original lattice structure, though its surface smoothness is slightly deteriorated. Additionally, systematical study indicates that the thinning process strongly depends on the initial thickness of the WTe2 flake before annealing: the thinning rate increases from 0.12 nm min(-1) to 0.36 nm min(-1) as the initial thickness increases from 10 nm to 45 nm, while the roughness of the final product also increases with the increase of its initial thickness. However, the method fails when it is applied to WTe2 flakes thicker than 100 nm, resulting in uneven or burnt surface, which is possibly caused by big cavities formed by a large amount of defects gathered at the top surface.

On the Quantum Spin Hall Gap of Monolayer 1T'-WTe2.

Positive quantum spin Hall gap in mono-layer 1T'-WTe2 is consistently supported by density-functional theory calculations, ultrafast pump-probe, and electrical transport measurements. It is argued that monolayer 1T'-WTe2 , which was predicted to be a semimetallic quantum spin Hall material, is likely a truly 2D quantum spin Hall insulator with a positive quantum spin Hall gap.

Dynamical Evolution of Anisotropic Response in Black Phosphorus under Ultrafast Photoexcitation.

Black phosphorus has recently emerged as a promising material for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic device for its high mobility, tunable mid-infrared bandgap, and anisotropic electronic properties. Dynamical evolution of photoexcited carriers and the induced transient change of electronic properties are critical for materials' high-field performance but remain to be explored for black phosphorus. In this work, we perform angle-resolved transient reflection spectroscopy to study the dynamical evolution of anisotropic properties of black phosphorus under photoexcitation. We find that the anisotropy of reflectivity is enhanced in the pump-induced quasi-equilibrium state, suggesting an extraordinary enhancement of the anisotropy in dynamical conductivity in hot carrier dominated regime. These results raise attractive possibilities of creating high-field, angle-sensitive electronic, optoelectronic, and remote sensing devices exploiting the dynamical electronic anisotropy with black phosphorus.