Bigeng Chen

Ultrafast All-Optical Graphene Modulator

Graphene is an optical material of unusual characteristics because of its linearly dispersive conduction and valence bands and the strong interband transitions. It allows broadband light-matter interactions with ultrafast responses and can be readily pasted to surfaces of functional structures for photonic and optoelectronic applications. Recently, graphene-based optical modulators have been demonstrated with electrical tuning of the Fermi level of graphene. Their operation bandwidth, however, was limited to about 1 GHz by the response of the driving electrical circuit. Clearly, this can be improved by an all-optical approach. Here, we show that a graphene-clad microfiber all-optical modulator can achieve a modulation depth of 38% and a response time of ∼ 2.2 ps, limited only by the intrinsic carrier relaxation time of graphene. This modulator is compatible with current high-speed fiber-optic communication networks and may open the door to meet future demand of ultrafast optical signal processing.

Graphene coated ZnO nanowire optical waveguides.

Using a tape-assist-transfer method and micromanipulation, we have fabricated graphene coated ZnO nanowire (GZN) optical waveguides. The GZNs exhibit significant saturable absorption (differential transmission of 15% at 1064nm), which can be employed for optical modulation.

All-optical graphene modulator based on optical Kerr phase shift

Graphene-based optical modulators have recently attracted much attention because of their characteristic ultrafast and broadband response. Their modulation depth (MD) and overall transmittance (OT), however, are often limited by optical loss arising from interband transitions. We report here an all-optical, all-fiber optical modulator with a Mach–Zehnder interferometer structure that has significantly higher MD and OT than graphene-based loss modulators. It is based on the idea of converting optically induced phase modulation in the graphene-cladded arm of the interferometer to intensity modulation at the output of the interferometer. The device has the potential to be integrable into a photonic system in real applications.

Graphene decorated microfiber for ultrafast optical modulation.

With a convenient and controllable evanescent-field-induced transfer method, graphene flakes were deposited on the surface of a 1-μm-diameter microfiber, which can be used for ultrafast optical modulation based on its distinct saturable absorption.

Unintentional doping induced splitting of G peak in bilayer graphene

Raman characterizations show the G peak of an unintentional doped single crystal bilayer graphene (BLG) splits into two peaks: S and AS peaks. From the relative shift between S and AS peaks, the doping concentration is estimated to be from 8.8 × 1012 cm−2 to 2 × 1013 cm−2, as in the same order of that in monolayer graphene prepared under the same condition. The dopants distribute relatively homogeneously in a 0.7 mm× 0.3 mm large BLG judged through the G peak splitting. The 2D peak of heavy doped BLG can only be deconvoluted into three peaks, corresponding to 2D1B, 2D1A, and 2D2A peaks.

Flexible integration of free-standing nanowires into silicon photonics

Silicon photonics has been developed successfully with a top-down fabrication technique to enable large-scale photonic integrated circuits with high reproducibility, but is limited intrinsically by the material capability for active or nonlinear applications. On the other hand, free-standing nanowires synthesized via a bottom-up growth present great material diversity and structural uniformity, but precisely assembling free-standing nanowires for on-demand photonic functionality remains a great challenge. Here we report hybrid integration of free-standing nanowires into silicon photonics with high flexibility by coupling free-standing nanowires onto target silicon waveguides that are simultaneously used for precise positioning. Coupling efficiency between a free-standing nanowire and a silicon waveguide is up to ~97% in the telecommunication band. A hybrid nonlinear-free-standing nanowires–silicon waveguides Mach–Zehnder interferometer and a racetrack resonator for significantly enhanced optical modulation are experimentally demonstrated, as well as hybrid active-free-standing nanowires–silicon waveguides circuits for light generation. These results suggest an alternative approach to flexible multifunctional on-chip nanophotonic devices.Precisely assembling free-standing nanowires for on-demand photonic functionality remains a challenge. Here, Chen et al. integrate free-standing nanowires into silicon waveguides and show all-optical modulation and light generation on silicon photonic chips.

Negative thermal quenching of photoluminescence in zinc oxide nanowire-core/graphene-shell complexes

Graphene is an atomic thin two-dimensional semimetal whereas ZnO is a direct wide band gap semiconductor with a strong light-emitting ability. In this paper, we report on photoluminescence (PL) of ZnO-nanowires (NWs)-core/Graphene-shell heterostructures, which shows a negative thermal quenching (NTQ) behavior both for the near band-edge and deep level emission. The abnormal PL behavior was understood through the charging and discharging processes between ZnO NWs and graphene. The NTQ properties are most possibly induced by the unique rapidly increasing density of states of graphene as a function of Fermi level, which promises a higher quantum tunneling probability between graphene and ZnO at a raised temperature.

Single CdTe Nanowire Optical Correlator for Femtojoule Pulses.

On the basis of the transverse second harmonic generation (TSHG) in a highly nonlinear subwavelength-diameter CdTe nanowire, we demonstrate a single-nanowire optical correlator for femto-second pulse measurement with pulse energy down to femtojoule (fJ) level. Pulses to be measured were equally split and coupled into two ends of a suspending nanowire via tapered optical fibers. The couterpropagating pulses meet each other around the central area of the nanowire, and emit TSHG signal perpendicular to the axis of the nanowire. By transferring the spatial intensity profile of the transverse second harmonic (TSH) image into the time-domain temporal profile of the input pulses, we operate the nanowire as a miniaturized optical correlator. Benefitted from the high nonlinearity and the very small effective mode area of the waveguiding CdTe nanowire, the input energy of the single-nanowire correlator can go down to fJ-level (e.g., 2 fJ/pulse for 1064 nm 200 fs pulses). The miniature fJ-pulse correlator may find applications from low power on-chip optical communication, biophotonics to ultracompact laser spectroscopy.

Graphene coated ZnO nanowire optical waveguides

Using a tape-assist-transfer method and micromanipulation, we have fabricated graphene coated ZnO nanowire (GZN) optical waveguides. The GZNs exhibit significant saturable absorption (differential transmission of 15% at 1064nm), which can be employed for optical modulation.

Graphene-cladding-microfiber all-optical modulator

By coating a few-layer-graphene film on the surface of a subwavelength-diameter microfiber that is tapered down from a standard optical fiber, we demonstrated an all-optical ultrafast modulator operating around 1.5-um wavelength with response time of about 2 ps. Article not available.