Nonlinear optical selection rules of excitons in monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides

Abstract: We propose an analytical approach for calculating the linear and nonlinear optical (NLO) responses of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) including excitonic effects. An effective Hamiltonian reproducing the trigonal warping (TW) of the energy dispersion, is used to derive analytical expressions for excitonic matrix elements. Based on this approach, we provide an informative diagram, which encompasses all excitonic selection rules. The diagram enables us to identify main transitions for the first-, second- and third-order optical responses. As a case study, we calculate the optical conductivity and second/third harmonic generation responses of monolayer MoS2 and demonstrate that the analytical approach accurately reproduces the spectra obtained using the Bethe-Salpeter equation (BSE). Therefore, the analytical approach provides an efficient and reliable method for calculating the NLO spectra as accurate as the full BSE method. Moreover, it enables us to obtain valuable physical insight into the fundamental transitions responsible for individual resonances, which is not straightforward in the full BSE method.