Substrate-induced electronic localization in monolayer MoS measured via terahertz spectroscopy.

We study terahertz (THz) optoelectronic properties of monolayer (ML) MoS placed on different substrates such as SiO/Si, sapphire, and quartz. Through the measurements of THz Fourier transform spectroscopy (2.5-6.5 THz) and THz time-domain spectroscopy (TDS, 0.2-1.2 THz), we find that the real part of optical conductivity increases for ML MoS on SiO/Si and sapphire substrates and decreases for it on quartz with increasing radiation frequency. It is shown that the complex optical conductivity for ML MoS, obtained from THz TDS measurements, can fit very well to the Drude-Smith formula. Thus, the dependence of optical conductivity of ML MoS on different substrates can be understood via a mechanism of electronic localization, and the electron density, relaxation time, and localization factor of the sample can be determined optically. Furthermore, we examine the influence of temperature on these key parameters in ML MoS on different substrates. The results obtained from this Letter indicate that THz spectroscopy is a very powerful tool in studying and characterizing ML MoS-based electronic systems, especially in examining the electronic localization effect which cannot be directly measured in conventional electrical transport experiment. This Letter is relevant to an in-depth understanding of the optoelectronic properties of ML MoS and of the proximity effect induced by different substrates.