Spin–Valley-Resolved Electronic and Thermodynamic Responses of Monolayer MoS₂ and WSe₂ to Strain-Induced Pseudomagnetic Fields

The low-energy massive Dirac Hamiltonian of strained monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), including the effects of strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields and intrinsic spin–orbit coupling (SOC), was employed to investigate the electronic and thermodynamic properties of MoS₂ and WSe₂. The resulting pseudo-Landau-level (PLL) spectrum was obtained and used to calculate the density of states (DOS), Fermi energy, thermal average energy, and pseudomagnetic susceptibility over a wide range of pseudomagnetic fields, temperatures, and carrier concentrations. The results demonstrate that strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields generate discrete PLLs, producing pronounced structures in the DOS and characteristic field-dependent behavior in the thermodynamic quantities. The recalculated generalized pseudofield susceptibility remains positive over the investigated field range and exhibits a pronounced low-field variation followed by a progressively weaker field dependence at higher pseudomagnetic fields. Its magnitude is strongly influenced by both pseudomagnetic field and temperature, reflecting the thermodynamic response of the electronic spectrum to the strain-induced gauge field. Furthermore, the larger intrinsic SOC of WSe₂ leads to a more pronounced spin–valley splitting and distinct thermodynamic behavior compared with MoS₂. These findings demonstrate that strain-induced pseudomagnetic fields provide an effective route for tailoring the electronic, thermodynamic, and spin–valley properties of monolayer TMDs without an externally applied real magnetic field, opening new opportunities for strain-engineered quantum, spintronic, and valleytronic applications.