Exciton Binding Energy and Nonhydrogenic Rydberg Series in Monolayer WS2

We have experimentally determined the energies of the ground and first four excited excitonic states of the fundamental optical transition in monolayer WS₂, a model system for the growing class of atomically thin two-dimensional semiconductor crystals. From the spectra, we establish a large exciton binding energy of 0.32 eV and a pronounced deviation from the usual hydrogenic Rydberg series of energy levels of the excitonic states. We explain both of these results using a microscopic theory in which the nonlocal nature of the effective dielectric screening modifies the functional form of the Coulomb interaction. These strong but unconventional electron-hole interactions are expected to be ubiquitous in atomically thin materials.