Quantitative Nanoscale Absorption Mapping: A Novel Technique to Probe Optical Absorption of Two-Dimensional Materials

Two-dimensional semiconductors, in particular transition metal dichalcogenides and related heterostructures, have gained increasing interest as they constitute potential new building blocks for the next generation of electronic and optoelectronic applications. In this work, we develop a novel nondestructive and noncontact technique for mapping the absorption properties of 2D materials, by taking advantage of the underlying substrate cathodoluminescence emission. We map the quantitative absorption of MoS2 and MoSe2 monolayers, obtained on sapphire and oxidized silicon, with nanoscale resolution. We extend our technique to the characterization of the absorption properties of MoS2/MoSe2 van der Waals heterostructures. We demonstrate that interlayer excitonic phenomena enhance the absorption in the UV range. Our technique also highlights the presence of defects such as grain boundaries and ad-layers. We provide measurements on the absorption of grain boundaries in monolayer MoS2 at different merging angles. We observe a higher absorption yield of randomly oriented monolayers with respect to 60° rotated monolayers. This work opens up a new possibility for characterizing the functional properties two dimensional semiconductors at the nanoscale.