Ritesh Agarwal

Single-nanowire electrically driven lasers

Electrically driven semiconductor lasers are used in technologies ranging from telecommunications and information storage to medical diagnostics and therapeutics. The success of this class of lasers is due in part to well-developed planar semiconductor growth and processing, which enables reproducible fabrication of integrated, electrically driven devices. Yet this approach to device fabrication is also costly and difficult to integrate directly with other technologies such as silicon microelectronics. To overcome these issues for future applications, there has been considerable interest in using organic molecules, polymers, and inorganic nanostructures for lasers, because these materials can be fashioned into devices by chemical processing. Indeed, amplified stimulated emission and lasing have been reported for optically pumped organic systems and, more recently, inorganic nanocrystals and nanowires. However, electrically driven lasing, which is required in most applications, has met with several difficulties in organic systems, and has not been addressed for assembled nanocrystals or nanowires. Here we investigate the feasibility of achieving electrically driven lasing from individual nanowires. Optical and electrical measurements made on single-crystal cadmium sulphide nanowires show that these structures can function as Fabry–Perot optical cavities with mode spacing inversely related to the nanowire length. Investigations of optical and electrical pumping further indicate a threshold for lasing as characterized by optical modes with instrument-limited linewidths. Electrically driven nanowire lasers, which might be assembled in arrays capable of emitting a wide range of colours, could improve existing applications and suggest new opportunities.

Highly scalable non-volatile and ultra-low-power phase-change nanowire memory

The search for a universal memory storage device that combines rapid read and write speeds, high storage density and non-volatility is driving the exploration of new materials in nanostructured form. Phase-change materials, which can be reversibly switched between amorphous and crystalline states, are promising in this respect, but top-down processing of these materials into nanostructures often damages their useful properties. Self-assembled nanowire-based phase-change material memory devices offer an attractive solution owing to their sub-lithographic sizes and unique geometry, coupled with the facile etch-free processes with which they can be fabricated. Here, we explore the effects of nanoscaling on the memory-storage capability of self-assembled Ge2Sb2Te5 nanowires, an important phase-change material. Our measurements of write-current amplitude, switching speed, endurance and data retention time in these devices show that such nanowires are promising building blocks for non-volatile scalable memory and may represent the ultimate size limit in exploring current-induced phase transition in nanoscale systems.

Lasing in Single Cadmium Sulfide Nanowire Optical Cavities

The mechanism of lasing in single cadmium sulfide (CdS) nanowire cavities was elucidated by temperature-dependent and time-resolved photoluminescence (PL) measurements. Temperature-dependent PL studies reveal rich spectral features and show that an exciton-exciton interaction is critical to lasing up to 75 K, while an exciton-phonon process dominates at higher temperatures. These measurements together with temperature and intensity dependent lifetime and threshold studies show that lasing is due to formation of excitons and, moreover, have implications for the design of efficient, low threshold nanowire lasers.

Manipulation and assembly of nanowires with holographic optical traps.

We demonstrate that semiconductor nanowires can be translated, rotated, cut, fused and organized into nontrivial structures using holographic optical traps. The holographic approach to nano-assembly allows for simultaneous independent manipulation of multiple nanowires, including relative translation and relative rotation.

All-optical active switching in individual semiconductor nanowires

The imminent limitations of electronic integrated circuits are stimulating intense activity in the area of nanophotonics for the development of on-chip optical components, and solutions incorporating direct-bandgap semiconductors are important in achieving this end. Optical processing of data at the nanometre scale is promising for circumventing these limitations, but requires the development of a toolbox of components including emitters, detectors, modulators, waveguides and switches. In comparison to components fabricated using top-down methods, semiconductor nanowires offer superior surface properties and stronger optical confinement. They are therefore ideal candidates for nanoscale optical network components, as well as model systems for understanding optical confinement. Here, we demonstrate all-optical switching in individual CdS nanowire cavities with subwavelength dimensions through stimulated polariton scattering, as well as a functional NAND gate built from multiple switches. The device design exploits the strong light-matter coupling present in these nanowires, leading to footprints that are a fraction of those of comparable silicon-based dielectric contrast and photonic crystal devices.

Seeded growth of highly crystalline molybdenum disulphide monolayers at controlled locations

Monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides are materials with an atomic structure complementary to graphene but diverse properties, including direct energy bandgaps, which makes them intriguing candidates for optoelectronic devices. Various approaches have been demonstrated for the growth of molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) on insulating substrates, but to date, growth of isolated crystalline flakes has been demonstrated at random locations only. Here we use patterned seeds of molybdenum source material to grow flakes of MoS2 at predetermined locations with micrometre-scale resolution. MoS2 flakes are predominantly monolayers with high material quality, as confirmed by atomic force microscopy, transmission electron microscopy and Raman and photoluminescence spectroscopy. As the monolayer flakes are isolated at predetermined locations, transistor fabrication requires only a single lithographic step. Device measurements exhibit carrier mobility and on/off ratio that exceed 10 cm(2) V(-1) s(-1) and 10(6), respectively. The technique provides a path for in-depth physical analysis of monolayer MoS2 and fabrication of MoS2-based integrated circuits.

Electrical Wind Force–Driven and Dislocation-Templated Amorphization in Phase-Change Nanowires

Exploiting Defects in a Jam Phase-change materials that can readily switch between crystalline and amorphous states are increasingly finding use in nonvolatile memory devices (see the Perspective by Hewak and Gholipour). Using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy, Nam et al. (p. 1561) show that for Ge2Sb2Te5, the application of an electric field drives crystal dislocations in one direction, leading to their accumulation and eventual jamming, which causes the phase transition. Loke et al. (p. 1566) found that by applying a constant low voltage to Ge2Sb2Te5, they could accelerate its phase-switching speeds, without harming the long-term stability of the switched state. The transition from crystalline to amorphous states in a phase-change material may not require a melting process. Phase-change materials undergo rapid and reversible crystalline-to-amorphous structural transformation and are being used for nonvolatile memory devices. However, the transformation mechanism remains poorly understood. We have studied the effect of electrical pulses on the crystalline-to-amorphous phase change in a single-crystalline Ge2Sb2Te5 (GST) nanowire memory device by in situ transmission electron microscopy. We show that electrical pulses produce dislocations in crystalline GST, which become mobile and glide in the direction of hole-carrier motion. The continuous increase in the density of dislocations moving unidirectionally in the material leads to dislocation jamming, which eventually induces the crystalline-to-amorphous phase change with a sharp interface spanning the entire nanowire cross section. The dislocation-templated amorphization explains the large on/off resistance ratio of the device.

Semiconductor nanowire devices

For the past ten years the idea of using self-assembled nanostructures to overcome the limitations of top-down fabrication has been the driving force behind the tremendous interest in semiconducting nanowires and nanotubes. However, it has become clear that the engineering issues associated with bottom-up technology using self-assembled nanowires and nanotubes remain challenging.

Tailoring hot-exciton emission and lifetimes in semiconducting nanowires via whispering-gallery nanocavity plasmons

The manipulation of radiative properties of light emitters coupled with surface plasmons is important for engineering new nanoscale optoelectronic devices, including lasers, detectors and single photon emitters. However, so far the radiative rates of excited states in semiconductors and molecular systems have been enhanced only moderately, typically by a factor of 10-50, producing emission mostly from thermalized excitons. Here, we show the generation of dominant hot-exciton emission, that is, luminescence from non-thermalized excitons that are enhanced by the highly concentrated electromagnetic fields supported by the resonant whispering-gallery plasmonic nanocavities of CdS-SiO(2)-Ag core-shell nanowire devices. By tuning the plasmonic cavity size to match the whispering-gallery resonances, an almost complete transition from thermalized exciton to hot-exciton emission can be achieved, which reflects exceptionally high radiative rate enhancement of >10(3) and sub-picosecond lifetimes. Core-shell plasmonic nanowires are an ideal test bed for studying and controlling strong plasmon-exciton interaction at the nanoscale and opens new avenues for applications in ultrafast nanophotonic devices.

Size-dependent phase transition memory switching behavior and low writing currents in GeTe nanowires

Synthesis and device characteristics of highly scalable GeTe nanowire-based phase transition memory are reported. The authors have demonstrated reversible phase transition memory switching behavior in GeTe nanowires, and obtained critical device parameters, such as write and erase currents, threshold voltage, and programming curves. The diameter dependence of memory switching behavior in GeTe nanowires was studied and a systematic reduction of writing currents with decreasing diameter was observed, with currents as low as 0.42mA for a 28nm nanowire. Results show that nanowires are very promising for scalable memory applications and for studying size-dependent phase transition mechanisms at the nanoscale.