Qiushi Guo

Black Phosphorus Mid-Infrared Photodetectors with High Gain

Recently, black phosphorus (BP) has joined the two-dimensional material family as a promising candidate for photonic applications due to its moderate bandgap, high carrier mobility, and compatibility with a diverse range of substrates. Photodetectors are probably the most explored BP photonic devices, however, their unique potential compared with other layered materials in the mid-infrared wavelength range has not been revealed. Here, we demonstrate BP mid-infrared detectors at 3.39 μm with high internal gain, resulting in an external responsivity of 82 A/W. Noise measurements show that such BP photodetectors are capable of sensing mid-infrared light in the picowatt range. Moreover, the high photoresponse remains effective at kilohertz modulation frequencies, because of the fast carrier dynamics arising from BPs moderate bandgap. The high photoresponse at mid-infrared wavelengths and the large dynamic bandwidth, together with its unique polarization dependent response induced by low crystalline symmetry, can be coalesced to promise photonic applications such as chip-scale mid-infrared sensing and imaging at low light levels.

Black Arsenic–Phosphorus: Layered Anisotropic Infrared Semiconductors with Highly Tunable Compositions and Properties

New layered anisotropic infrared semiconductors, black arsenic-phosphorus (b-AsP), with highly tunable chemical compositions and electronic and optical properties are introduced. Transport and infrared absorption studies demonstrate the semiconducting nature of b-AsP with tunable bandgaps, ranging from 0.3 to 0.15 eV. These bandgaps fall into the long-wavelength infrared regime and cannot be readily reached by other layered materials.

Interlayer Interactions in Anisotropic Atomically-thin Rhenium Diselenide

In this work, we study the interlayer phonon vibration modes, the layer-numberdependent optical bandgap, and the anisotropic photoluminescence (PL) spectra of atomically thin rhenium diselenide (ReSe2) for the first time. The ultralow frequency interlayer Raman spectra and the polarization-resolved high frequency Raman spectra in ReSe2 allow the identification of its layer number and crystal orientation. Furthermore, PL measurements show the anisotropic optical emission intensity of the material with its bandgap increasing from 1.26 eV in the bulk to 1.32 eV in the monolayer. The study of the layer-number dependence of the Raman modes and the PL spectra reveals relatively weak van der Waal’s interaction and two-dimensional (2D) quantum confinement in the atomically thin ReSe2. The experimental observation of the intriguing anisotropic interlayer interaction and tunable optical transition in monolayer and multilayer ReSe2 establishes the foundation for further exploration of this material in the development of anisotropic optoelectronic devices functioning in the near-infrared spectrum, which is important for many applications in optical communication and infrared sensing.

Optoelectronic devices based on two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides

In the past few years, two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) materials have attracted increasing attention of the research community, owing to their unique electronic and optical properties, ranging from the valley–spin coupling to the indirect-to-direct bandgap transition when scaling the materials from multi-layer to monolayer. These properties are appealing for the development of novel electronic and optoelectronic devices with important applications in the broad fields of communication, computation, and healthcare. One of the key features of the TMDC family is the indirect-to-direct bandgap transition that occurs when the material thickness decreases from multilayer to monolayer, which is favorable for many photonic applications. TMDCs have also demonstrated unprecedented flexibility and versatility for constructing a wide range of heterostructures with atomic-level control over their layer thickness that is also free of lattice mismatch issues. As a result, layered TMDCs in combination with other 2D materials have the potential for realizing novel high-performance optoelectronic devices over a broad operating spectral range. In this article, we review the recent progress in the synthesis of 2D TMDCs and optoelectronic devices research. We also discuss the challenges facing the scalable applications of the family of 2D materials and provide our perspective on the opportunities offered by these materials for future generations of nanophotonics technology.

Anisotropic Black Phosphorus Synaptic Device for Neuromorphic Applications

The first black-phosphorus synaptic device is demonstrated, which offers intrinsic anisotropy in its synaptic characteristics directly resulting from its low crystalline symmetry. Key features of biological synapses, such as long-term plasticity with heterogeneity, including long-term potentiation/depression and spike-timing-dependent plasticity, are mimicked. This demonstration represents an important step toward introducing intrinsic heterogeneity to artificial neuromorphic systems.

Efficient electrical control of thin-film black phosphorus bandgap

Recently rediscovered black phosphorus is a layered semiconductor with promising electronic and photonic properties. Dynamic control of its bandgap can allow for the exploration of new physical phenomena. However, theoretical investigations and photoemission spectroscopy experiments indicate that in its few-layer form, an exceedingly large electric field in the order of several volts per nanometre is required to effectively tune its bandgap, making the direct electrical control unfeasible. Here we reveal the unique thickness-dependent bandgap tuning properties in intrinsic black phosphorus, arising from the strong interlayer electronic-state coupling. Furthermore, leveraging a 10 nm-thick black phosphorus, we continuously tune its bandgap from ∼300 to below 50 meV, using a moderate displacement field up to 1.1 V nm−1. Such dynamic tuning of bandgap may not only extend the operational wavelength range of tunable black phosphorus photonic devices, but also pave the way for the investigation of electrically tunable topological insulators and semimetals.

Two-dimensional materials for nanophotonics application

Abstract In this article, we review the various topics on the applications of 2D materials, including both elemental and compound 2D materials, for nanophotonics application from detectors, modulators to plasmonics and light generating devices. With this review, we hope to provide an overview of the past development in this field while offering our perspectives on its future directions.

Noise spectroscopy as an equilibrium analysis tool for highly sensitive electrical biosensing

We demonstrate an approach for highly sensitive bio-detection based on silicon nanowire field-effect transistors by employing low frequency noise spectroscopy analysis. The inverse of noise amplitude of the device exhibits an enhanced gate coupling effect in strong inversion regime when measured in buffer solution than that in air. The approach was further validated by the detection of cardiac troponin I of 0.23 ng/ml in fetal bovine serum, in which 2 orders of change in noise amplitude was characterized. The selectivity of the proposed approach was also assessed by the addition of 10 μg/ml bovine serum albumin solution.

Synthesis of Crystalline Black Phosphorus Thin Film on Sapphire

Black phosphorus (BP) has recently attracted significant attention due to its exceptional physical properties. Currently, high-quality few-layer and thin-film BP are produced primarily by mechanical exfoliation, limiting their potential in future applications. Here, the synthesis of highly crystalline thin-film BP on 5 mm sapphire substrates by conversion from red to black phosphorus at 700 °C and 1.5 GPa is demonstrated. The synthesized ≈50 nm thick BP thin films are polycrystalline with a crystal domain size ranging from 40 to 70 µm long, as indicated by Raman mapping and infrared extinction spectroscopy. At room temperature, field-effect mobility of the synthesized BP thin film is found to be around 160 cm2 V-1 s-1 along armchair direction and reaches up to about 200 cm2 V-1 s-1 at around 90 K. Moreover, red phosphorus (RP) covered by exfoliated hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) before conversion shows atomically sharp hBN/BP interface and perfectly layered BP after the conversion. This demonstration represents a critical step toward the future realization of large scale, high-quality BP devices and circuits.

Enhanced graphene absorption and linewidth sharpening enabled by Fano-like geometric resonance at near-infrared wavelengths.

We theoretically investigate the light-graphene interactions enabled by a single layer of nonlossy nanorods at near-infrared wavelengths. The sustained Fano-like geometric resonance gives rise to enhanced graphene absorption, e.g., 100%, and adjustable absorption linewidth even to be ultra-narrow, e.g., < 1 nm. The conditions for such graphene absorption enhancement and linewidth sharpening are analytically interpreted within the framework of temporal coupled mode theory for the Fano resonance. The geometric resonance enhanced light-graphene interactions are polarization-sensitive and angle-dependent. Our study offers new possibilities towards designing and fabricating novel opto-electronic devices such as graphene-integrated monochromatic photodetectors and ultra-compact modulators.