UC Santa Barbara

The valley degree of freedom of electrons in two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides has been extensively studied by theory (1-4), optical (5-9), and optoelectronic (10-13) experiments. However, generation and detection of pure valley current without relying on optical selection have not yet been demonstrated in these materials. Here, we report that valley current can be electrically induced and detected through the valley Hall effect and inverse valley Hall effect, respectively, in monolayer molybdenum disulfide. We compare temperature and channel length dependence of nonlocal electrical signals in monolayer and multilayer samples to distinguish the valley Hall effect from classical ohmic contributions. Notably, valley transport is observed over a distance of 4 μm in monolayer samples at room temperature. Our findings will enable a new generation of electronic devices using the valley degree of freedom, which can be used for future novel valleytronic applications.