Collective photon emission and ferroelectric exciton ordering near Mott insulating state in WSe2/WS2 heterobilayers.

Spontaneous symmetry breaking, driven by competing interactions and quantum fluctuations, is fundamental to understanding ordered electronic phases. Although electrically neutral, optical excitations like excitons can interact through their dipole moment, raising the possibility of optically active ordered phases. The effects of spontaneous ordering on optical properties remains underexplored. The excitonic Mott insulating state recently observed in semiconducting moiré crystals may help clarify this question. Here we present evidence for an in-plane ferroelectric phase of dipolar moiré excitons driven by strong exciton–exciton interactions. We reveal a speed-up of photon emission at late times and low densities in excitonic decay. This counterintuitive behaviour is attributed to collective radiance, linked to the transition between disordered and symmetry-broken ferroelectric phases of moiré excitons. Our findings provide evidence for strong dipolar intersite interactions in moiré lattices, demonstrate collective photon emission as a probe for moiré quantum materials and a path for exploring cooperative optical phenomena in strongly correlated systems. Ferroelectric ordering of moiré excitons and collective photon emission emerge in WSe2/WS2 heterobilayers near the Mott state driven by strong dipolar interactions and a transition to symmetry-broken ferroelectric phases.