Ultrashort laser pulses measure Berry curvature in a WSe2 monolayer

Researchers at Friedrich Schiller University Jena and the University of Regensburg developed an optical method to determine Berry curvature, a quantum-geometric property of electrons that was previously hard to access. They measured it in a single atomic layer of the semiconductor tungsten diselenide using ultrashort laser pulses, with results published in Nature Photonics.

• The method probes Berry curvature using light
• Measurements were made on a one-atom-thick WSe2 layer
• Ultrashort laser pulses were used
• Results appeared in Nature Photonics