Encapsulated macroscopic WS2 monolayers enable room-temperature exciton-polariton lattices
Abstract
Large-area, optically homogeneous monolayer semiconductors are a critical prerequisite for scalable room-temperature polaritonics and for realizing polariton lattices extending across many unit cells. Yet, the small size, optical inhomogeneity, and device-to-device variability of conventional exfoliated flakes have remained major obstacles. Here, we overcome these limitations using 1-dodecanol-encapsulated WS2 monolayers that combine millimeter-scale coverage with remarkably uniform optical properties over lateral distances approaching 300μm. Integrated into a tunable open microcavity, these monolayers exhibit robust room-temperature exciton-photon strong coupling, evidenced by a pronounced anti-crossing and a Rabi splitting of ℏ ΩR ≈ 31 meV. Leveraging the exceptional uniformity of this platform, we realize a two-dimensional polaritonic kagome lattice and directly resolve its characteristic band structure. Angle-resolved spectroscopy reveals Dirac dispersive bands together with a weakly dispersive flat-band-like branch within the s-band, in good agreement with a linear non-interacting model. Complementary momentum- and real-space imaging further identifies the associated bond-centered and site-centered mode profiles. These results establish large-area WS2 monolayers in open microcavities as a scalable platform for engineering polariton band structures and exploring synthetic quantum materials under ambient conditions.
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BibTeX
@misc{huang2026encapsulated,
title = {{Encapsulated macroscopic WS$_2$ monolayers enable room-temperature exciton-polariton lattices}},
author = {Shiyu Huang and Sander Scheel and Jiang Qu and Johannes Düreth and Dominik Horneber and Edith Wietek and Simon Widmann and Libo Ma and Monika Emmerling and Martin Kamp and Simon Betzold and Alexey Chernikov and Sven Höfling and Sebastian Klembt},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.07587},
eprint = {2609.07587},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07587},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Encapsulated macroscopic WS_2 monolayers enable room-temperature exciton-polariton lattices
AU - Shiyu Huang
AU - Sander Scheel
AU - Jiang Qu
AU - Johannes Düreth
AU - Dominik Horneber
AU - Edith Wietek
AU - Simon Widmann
AU - Libo Ma
AU - Monika Emmerling
AU - Martin Kamp
AU - Simon Betzold
AU - Alexey Chernikov
AU - Sven Höfling
AU - Sebastian Klembt
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/07
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.07587
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.07587
AB - Large-area, optically homogeneous monolayer semiconductors are a critical prerequisite for scalable room-temperature polaritonics and for realizing polariton lattices extending across many unit cells. Yet, the small size, optical inhomogeneity, and device-to-device variability of conventional exfoliated flakes have remained major obstacles. Here, we overcome these limitations using 1-dodecanol-encapsulated WS_2 monolayers that combine millimeter-scale coverage with remarkably uniform optical properties over lateral distances approaching 300μm. Integrated into a tunable open microcavity, these monolayers exhibit robust room-temperature exciton-photon strong coupling, evidenced by a pronounced anti-crossing and a Rabi splitting of ℏ Ω_R ≈ 31 meV. Leveraging the exceptional uniformity of this platform, we realize a two-dimensional polaritonic kagome lattice and directly resolve its characteristic band structure. Angle-resolved spectroscopy reveals Dirac dispersive bands together with a weakly dispersive flat-band-like branch within the s-band, in good agreement with a linear non-interacting model. Complementary momentum- and real-space imaging further identifies the associated bond-centered and site-centered mode profiles. These results establish large-area WS_2 monolayers in open microcavities as a scalable platform for engineering polariton band structures and exploring synthetic quantum materials under ambient conditions.
ER -