Title: Optical and Electronic Studies of Air-Sensitive van der Waals Materials Encapsulated by Hexagonal Boron Nitride
Description: Layered van der Waals materials have played a pivotal role in expanding the scope of condensed matter physics by examining the effects of reduced dimensionality in various systems. These include semiconductors, ferromagnets, and charge density wave materials, among many others. Hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is often used as a passivation/encapsulation layer for air-sensitive materials in optical and electronic studies owing to its effectiveness as a substrate for graphene in transport measurements. In this thesis, samples probed by Raman spectroscopy and as well as those measured through electronic transport were first encapsulated during fabrication. The specific experimental details are found in each corresponding chapter. This thesis aims to characterize several 2-D materials and explore physical phenomena arising from combinations thereof through optical and electronic means. Before delving into the specific research projects, it provides a motivation for each, descriptions of the material(s) involved, and sample fabrication techniques used to assemble the various heterostructures.

Topics to be covered include the effects of encapsulation on the transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) 1T’-MoTe2 subject to elevated temperatures, how the nearly commensurate to commensurate phase transition of another TMD, the charge density wave material 1T-TaS2, in its few-layer form can be tuned electronically, preliminary results of electronic transport in graphene-ferromagnet heterostructures, and an outline of other optical studies on mono- to few-layered forms of related materials and possible future directions that may be pursued.