About

Leonid Butov is a Professor in the Program in Materials Science and Engineering at the University of California, San Diego. His research focus is on excitons, as indicated by his association with the Excitons Lab. He is involved in advancing understanding in this area, contributing to the field through his academic and research activities. His contact email is lvbutov@physics.ucsd.edu, and he is based at 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093-0418.

Research topics

• Physics
• Quantum mechanics
• Condensed matter physics
• Chemistry
• Materials science
• Atomic physics
• Optoelectronics

Selected publications

• Data for Long-range spatial extension of exciton states in van der Waals heterostructure

  Figshare · 2025-01-01

  datasetOpen accessSenior author

  Data for Long-range spatial extension of exciton states in van der Waals heterostructure.The images are adapted for matlab.

  PublisherDOI

• Indirect excitons

  2025-03-19

  article1st authorCorresponding

  We present recent results in quantum systems of spatially indirect excitons (IXs), also known as interlayer excitons, in semiconductor heterostructures (HS). In GaAs/AlGaAs HS: the excitonic Bose-polarons formed by spatially direct excitons (DXs) immersed in degenerate Bose gases of IXs. In MoSe2/WSe2 HS: the long-distance spin transport.

  PublisherDOI

• Generalized Mott transition in Bose-polaron absorption

  2025-01-01

  article

  We studied excitonic Bose-polarons formed by spatially direct excitons (DXs) dressed by excitations of the surrounding degenerate Bose gas of spatially indirect excitons (IXs) in electron-hole bilayers. We observed the generalized Mott transition in Bose-polarons.

  PublisherDOI

• Interference dislocations adjacent to emission spot

  Optics Letters · 2025-12-18

  articleSenior author

  We studied interference dislocations (forks) adjacent to an emission spot in an interference pattern. We observed the adjacent interference dislocations in emission of excitons in a monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide and in emission of spatially indirect excitons, also known as interlayer excitons, in a van der Waals heterostructure. Our simulations show that the adjacent interference dislocations appear due to the moiré effect in combined interference patterns produced by constituent parts of the emission spot. In contrast to interference dislocations in coherent states, such as interference dislocations due to quantized vortices in condensates, the appearance of adjacent interference dislocations does not require coherence between the parts of the emission spot, indicating that interference dislocations can be observed in a classical system. We show that the interference dislocations in classical systems can appear in interference images for various spatially modulated emission patterns.

  PublisherDOI

• Data for Long-range spatial extension of exciton states in van der Waals heterostructure

  Figshare · 2025-01-01

  datasetOpen accessSenior author

  Data for Long-range spatial extension of exciton states in van der Waals heterostructure

  PublisherDOI

• Interference dislocations adjacent to emission spot

  ArXiv.org · 2025-11-03

  preprintOpen accessSenior author

  We studied interference dislocations (forks) adjacent to an emission spot in an interference pattern. The adjacent interference dislocations are observed in emission of excitons in a monolayer transition metal dichalcogenide and in emission of spatially indirect excitons, also known as interlayer excitons, in a van der Waals heterostructure. The simulations show that the adjacent interference dislocations appear due to the moiré effect in combined interference patterns produced by constituting parts of the emission spot. The adjacent interference dislocations can appear in interference images for various spatially modulated emission patterns.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Indirect magnetoexcitons in MoSe2/WSe2 heterostructure

  2025-01-01

  articleSenior author

  We studied spatially indirect excitons (IXs) in MoSe 2 /WSe 2 heterostructure in the regime of long-range transport. The measurements in magnetic fields revealed g-factors for IX states and heterostructure stacking type. We also observed long-range magnetoexciton transport.

  PublisherDOI

• Data for Long-range spatial extension of exciton states in van der Waals heterostructure

  Figshare · 2025-01-01

  datasetOpen accessSenior author

  Data for Long-range spatial extension of exciton states in van der Waals heterostructure.The images are adapted for matlab.

  PublisherDOI

• Bose-polarons in electron-hole systems in GaAs heterostructure

  2024-01-01

  article

  We observed attractive and repulsive Bose-polarons in neutral electron-hole systems in separated electron and hole layers in GaAs heterostructure. The measured energy splitting between the polarons increases with density, in agreement with the theoretical calculations.

  PublisherDOI

• Long-range spin transport in indirect excitons in MoSe2/WSe2 heterostructure

  2024-01-01

  articleSenior author

  We observed spin transport with decay distances exceeding 100 microns and diverging in indirect excitons (IXs) in MoSe2/WSe2 heterostructure. With increasing IX density, we observed spin localization, then long-range spin transport, then spin localization.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Indirect Excitons in Semiconductor Nanostructures

  NSF · $345k · 2006–2009

• E2CDA: Type I: Excitonic Devices

  NSF · $1.7M · 2016–2019

• Indirect Excitons

  NSF · $550k · 2019–2022

• Indirect Excitons

  NSF · $405k · 2014–2017

• Indirect Excitons

  NSF · $670k · 2009–2014

Frequent coauthors

• A. C. Gossard

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  82 shared

• J. R. Leonard

  University of California, San Diego

  54 shared

• M. Hanson

  Cardiff University

  52 shared

• A. T. Hammack

  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

  41 shared

• Alexander A. High

  University of Chicago

  40 shared

• M. M. Fogler

  University of California, San Diego

  33 shared

• A. C. Gossard

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  30 shared

• K. L. Campman

  University of California, Santa Barbara

  29 shared

Labs

• Butov GroupPI

  Research focus on Bose Einstein condensation, exciton condensation, indirect exciton, coupled quantum well, double quantum well

Awards & honors

• Gareth Thomas Materials Excellence Award