Continuously tunable dipolar exciton geometry for controlling bosonic quantum phase transitions
Abstract
The geometry and binding energy of excitons, set by electron-hole wavefunction distributions, are fundamental factors that underpin their many-body interactions and determine optoelectronic properties of semiconductors. However, in typical solid-state systems, these quantities are fixed by material composition and structure. Here we introduce a polarizable interlayer exciton hosted in a two-dimensional tetralayer heterostructure whose dipole length, in-plane radius, and binding energy can be continuously programmed in situ over a wide range, enabling direct control over the nature of excitonic many-body phase transitions. An out-of-plane electric field redistributes layer-hybridized electron-hole wavefunctions, realizing in situ control of exciton geometry through a strong quadratic Stark response. This tunability further regulates the nature of interaction-driven Mott transition, transforming it from gradual to abrupt. Our results establish exciton geometry as a continuously tunable materials parameter, opening routes to exciton-based quantum phase-transition simulators and guiding the design of emergent optoelectronic functionalities from programmable excitonic materials.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.00419,
title = {Continuously tunable dipolar exciton geometry for controlling bosonic quantum phase transitions},
author = {Zhenyu Sun and Haoteng Sun and Xiaohang Jia and An Li and Naiyuan J. Zhang and Ken Seungmin Hong and Joseph DePinho and Conor Y. Long and Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi and Ou Chen and Jue Wang and Jia Li and Brenda Rubenstein and Yusong Bai},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.00419},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
20 pages, 4 figures