Monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) provide a platform for realizing Wigner crystals and enable their detection via exciton spectroscopy. We develop a microscopic theoretical model for excitons interacting with the localized electrons of the Wigner crystal, including their vibrational motion. In addition to the previously observed exciton-Umklapp feature, the theory reproduces and explains the higher-band attractive-polaron resonances recently reported experimentally. Our model further uncovers that the appearance of two equal-strength and parallel attractive polarons, as commonly observed in WSe2 and WS2, is a signature of strong correlations in the electronic system. Altogether, our results demonstrate that accounting for electronic interactions is essential to reproduce and interpret the exciton-polaron spectra of TMDs.
@article{arxiv.2512.16651,
title = {Theory of exciton polarons in 2D Wigner crystals},
author = {Haydn S. Adlong and Eugen Dizer and Richard Schmidt and Atac Imamoglu and Arthur Christianen},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2512.16651},
year = {2025}
}