Upconversion of Light into Bright Intravalley Excitons via Dark Intervalley Excitons in hBN-Encapsulated WSe2 Monolayers

Semiconducting monolayers of transition-metal dichalcogenides are outstanding platforms to study both electronic and phononic interactions as well as intra- and intervalley excitons and trions. These excitonic complexes are optically either active (bright) or inactive (dark) due to selection rules from spin or momentum conservation. Exploring ways of brightening dark excitons and trions has strongly been pursued in semiconductor physics. Here, we report on a mechanism in which a dark intervalley exciton upconverts light into a bright intravalley exciton in hBN-encapsulated WSe2 monolayers. Excitation spectra of upconverted photoluminescence reveals resonances at energies 34.5 and 46.0 meV below the neutral exciton in the nominal WSe2 transparency range. The required energy gains are theoretically explained by cooling of resident electrons or by exciton scattering with Lambda- or K-valley phonons. Accordingly, an elevated temperature and a moderate concentration of resident electrons are necessary for observing the upconversion resonances. The interaction process observed between the inter- and intravalley excitons elucidates the importance of dark excitons for the optics of two-dimensional materials.