Doping dependent plasmon dispersion in 2H-transition metal dichalcogenides

We report the behavior of the charge carrier plasmon of 2H-transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) as a function of intercalation with alkali metals. Intercalation and concurrent doping of the TMD layers have a substantial impact on plasmon energy and dispersion. While the plasmon energy shifts are related to the intercalation level as expected within a simple homogeneous electron gas picture, the plasmon dispersion changes in a peculiar manner independent of the intercalant and the TMD materials. Starting from a negative dispersion, the slope of the plasmon dispersion changes sign and grows monotonously upon doping. Quantitatively, the increase of this slope depends on the orbital character (4d or 5d) of the conduction bands, which indicates a decisive role of band structure effects on the plasmon behavior.