Control over nuclear spin fluctuations is essential for processes that rely on preserving the quantum state of an embedded system. For this purpose, squeezing is a viable alternative, so far that has not been properly exploited for the nuclear spins. Of particular relevance in solids is the electric quadrupole interaction (QI), which operates on nuclei having spin higher than 1/2. In its general form, QI involves an electric field gradient (EFG) biaxiality term. Here, we show that as this EFG biaxiality increases, it enables continuous tuning of single-particle squeezing from the one-axis twisting to the two-axis countertwisting limits. A detailed analysis of QI squeezing is provided, exhibiting the intricate consequences of EFG biaxiality. The initial states over the Bloch sphere are mapped out to identify those favorable for fast initial squeezing, or for prolonged squeezings. Furthermore, the evolution of squeezing in the presence of a phase-damping channel and an external magnetic field are investigated. We observe that dephasing drives toward an anti-squeezed terminal state, the degree of which increases with the spin angular momentum. Finally, QI squeezing in the limiting case of a two-dimensional EFG with a perpendicular magnetic field is discussed, which is of importance for two-dimensional materials, and the associated beat patterns in squeezing are revealed.

Semiconductor monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) have brought a new paradigm by introducing optically addressable valley degree of freedom. Concomitantly, their high flexibility constitutes a unique platform that links optics to mechanics via valleytronics. With the intention to expedite the research in this direction, we investigated ten TMDs, namely MoS2, MoSe2, MoTe2, WS2, WSe2, WTe2, MoSSe, MoSeTe, WSSe, and WSeTe, which particularly includes their so-called janus types (JTMDs). First, we obtained their electronic band structures using regular and hybrid density functional theory (DFT) calculations in the presence of the spin–orbit coupling and biaxial or uniaxial strain. Our DFT results indicated that against the expectations based on their reported piezoelectric behavior, JTMDs typically interpolated between the standard band properties of the constituent TMDs without producing a novel feature. Next, by fitting to our DFT data we generated both spinless and spinful k · p parameter sets which are quite accurate over the K valley where the optical activity occurs. As an important application of this parametrization, we considered the circular and linear dichroism under strain. Among the studied (J)­TMDs, WTe2 stood out with its largest linear dichroism under uniaxial strain because of its narrower band gap and large K valley uniaxial deformation potential. This led us to suggest WTe2 monolayer membranes for optical polarization-based strain measurements, or conversely, as strain tunable optical polarizers.

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