We present a microscopic theory of neutral excitons and charged excitons (trions) in monolayers of transition metal dichalcogenides, including molybdenum disulfide. Our theory is based on an effective mass model of excitons and trions, parameterized by ab initio calculations and incorporating a proper treatment of screening in two dimensions. The calculated exciton binding energies are in good agreement with high-level many-body computations based on the Bethe-Salpeter equation. Furthermore, our calculations for the more complex trion species compare very favorably with recent experimental measurements and provide atomistic insight into the microscopic features which determine the trion binding energy.

• Received 22 May 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.88.045318