Ultrafast switching of trions in 2D materials by terahertz photons

External control of optical excitations is key for manipulating light–matter coupling and is highly desirable for photonic technologies. Excitons in monolayer semiconductors emerged as a unique nanoscale platform in this context, offering strong light–matter coupling, spin–valley locking and exceptional tunability. Crucially, they allow electrical switching of their optical response due to efficient interactions of excitonic emitters with free charge carriers, forming new quasiparticles known as trions and Fermi polarons. However, there are major limitations to how fast the light emission of these states can be tuned, restricting the majority of applications to an essentially static regime. Here we demonstrate switching of excitonic light emitters in monolayer semiconductors on ultrafast picosecond time scales by applying short pulses in the terahertz spectral range following optical injection. The process is based on a rapid conversion of trions to excitons by absorption of terahertz photons inducing photodetachment. Monitoring time-resolved emission dynamics in optical-pump/terahertz-push experiments, we achieve the required resonance conditions as well as demonstrate tunability of the process with delay time and terahertz pulse power. Our results introduce a versatile experimental tool for fundamental research of light-emitting excitations of composite Bose–Fermi mixtures and open up pathways towards technological developments of new types of nanophotonic device based on atomically thin materials.