Two-photon absorption measurements in graphene fragments: Role of electron-electron interactions

Many-body interactions in graphene are an active field of research. There is a clear evidence of strong electron correlation effects in other carbon based materials which have the same sp$^2$ hybridization as graphene. For example, in linear-polyenes, the electron-electron interactions are considered responsible for the occurrence of lowest two-photon state below the optical one-photon state. The electronic correlation in these linear systems is a strong function of the chain length. Thus, it is pertinent to question if the two-dimensional graphene fragments also exhibit strong correlation effects and how these effects scale with fragment size. Using a white light super-continuum source, we perform z-scan measurements to extract frequency-dependent two-photon absorption coefficients in symmetric molecular fragments of graphene, e.g. coronene and hexabenzocoronene. A comparison of one-photon and two-photon absorption coefficients is then used to uncover the extent of correlation effects. In the smallest fragment, coronene, our results indicate a strong signature of the Coulomb interactions. We will discuss how the importance of electron-electron interaction varies with system size and its implication for the correlation effects in graphene.