Heller, Eric JVenkat, Siddharth2021-07-1320212021-05-142021-05Venkat, Siddharth. 2021. Modeling Excitons in Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Monolayers. Doctoral dissertation, Harvard University Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.28499401https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37368440Excitons play a significant role in the optical properties of transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) monolayers. The most accurate models of excitons to date are based on GW-BSE, which are computationally demanding. We present here models of two-body states that capture the relevant excitonic physics, but are much more computationally friendly. We contrast these models through a theoretical exploration of predictions, including excition translational mass, band structure and dark exciton properties. We find that both models provide good agreement with binding energies created by the most accurate GW-BSE models as well as certain experimental observations. We are also able to predict experimentally reported values of exciton magnetic moment and radius with reasonable fidelity.application/pdfenExcitonTransition Metal DichalcogenidePhysicsThesis or Dissertation2021-07-13https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9573-4319