The interaction of light with WS2 nanostructures

In this thesis we describe three results of the interaction between WS2 and light: photoluminescence, the formation of exciton-polaritons and Raman scattering. The chirality of the photoluminescence interaction between WS2 and light opens the way for applictions in nanophotonics and specifically valleytronics, the field of interacting with and manipulating the valley pseudospin. In this work we propose a way to optically address and read out the valley pseudospin using silver and ZnO nanowires. Subsequently we confirm the existence of coherence between the WS2 valleys. Furthermore, exciton-polaritons in WS2 hold the promise of applications in nanophotonics that make use of the enormous light-matter interaction. Raman spectroscopy is commonly used as a characterization tool to confirm the nature of a material and its properties. In this work we go one step further, determining how structural and morphological variations in WS2 pyramids manifest themselves in Raman spectra. In addition we describe how Raman spectroscopy can be used to probe the orientation of WS2 nanoflowers.