Narrow-band anisotropic electronic structure of ReS2

We have used angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy to investigate the band structure of ReS 2, a transition-metal dichalcogenide semiconductor with a distorted 1T crystal structure. We find a large number of narrow valence bands, which we attribute to the combined influence of structural distortion and spin-orbit coupling. We further show how this leads to a strong in-plane anisotropy of the electronic structure, with quasi-one-dimensional bands reflecting predominant hopping along zigzag Re chains. We find that this does not persist up to the top of the valence band, where a more three-dimensional character is recovered with the fundamental band gap located away from the Brillouin zone center along kz. These experiments are in good agreement with our density-functional theory calculations, shedding light on the bulk electronic structure of ReS2, and how it can be expected to evolve when thinned to a single layer.