Carrier plasmon induced nonlinear band gap renormalization in two-dimensional semiconductors

In reduced-dimensional semiconductors, doping-induced carrier plasmons can strongly couple with quasiparticle excitations, leading to a significant band gap renormalization. However, the physical origin of this generic effect remains obscure. We develop a new plasmon-pole theory that efficiently and accurately captures this coupling. Using monolayer MoS2 and MoSe2 as prototype two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors, we reveal a striking band gap renormalization above 400 meV and an unusual nonlinear evolution of their band gaps with doping. This prediction significantly differs from the linear behavior that is observed in one-dimensional structures. Notably, our predicted band gap renormalization for MoSe2 is in excellent agreement with recent experimental results. Our developed approach allows for a quantitative understanding of many-body interactions in general doped 2D semiconductors and paves the way for novel band gap engineering techniques.