Interlayer interactions in anisotropic atomically thin rhenium diselenide

In this work, we study the interlayer phonon vibration modes, the layer-numberdependent optical bandgap, and the anisotropic photoluminescence (PL) spectra of atomically thin rhenium diselenide (ReSe₂) for the first time. The ultralow frequency interlayer Raman spectra and the polarization-resolved high frequency Raman spectra in ReSe₂ allow the identification of its layer number and crystal orientation. Furthermore, PL measurements show the anisotropic optical emission intensity of the material with its bandgap increasing from 1.26 eV in the bulk to 1.32 eV in the monolayer. The study of the layer-number dependence of the Raman modes and the PL spectra reveals relatively weak van der Waal’s interaction and two-dimensional (2D) quantum confinement in the atomically thin ReSe₂. The experimental observation of the intriguing anisotropic interlayer interaction and tunable optical transition in monolayer and multilayer ReSe₂ establishes the foundation for further exploration of this material in the development of anisotropic optoelectronic devices functioning in the near-infrared spectrum, which is important for many applications in optical communication and infrared sensing. [Figure not available: see fulltext.]