Strainoptronics: New Way to Control Photons
chromas writes:
Strainoptronics: A New Way To Control Photons:
Researchers discovered a new way to engineer optoelectronic devices by stretching a two-dimensional material on top of a silicon photonic platform. Using this method, coined strainoptronics by a team led by George Washington University professor Volker Sorger, the researchers demonstrated for the first time that a 2-D material wrapped around a nanoscale silicon photonic waveguide creates a novel photodetector that can operate with high efficiency at the technology-critical wavelength of 1550 nanometers.
[...] 2-D materials have scientific and technologically relevant properties for photodetectors. Because of their strong optical absorption, designing a 2-D material-based photodetector would enable an improved photo-conversion, and hence more efficient data transmission and telecommunications. However, 2-D semiconducting materials, such as those from the family of transition metal dichalcogenides, have, so far, been unable to operate efficiently at telecommunication wavelengths because of their large optical bandgap and low absorption.
[...] Realizing the potential of strainoptronics, the researchers stretched an ultrathin layer of molybdenum telluride, a 2-D material semiconductor, on top of a silicon photonic waveguide to assemble a novel photodetector. They then used their newly created strainoptronics "control knob" to alter its physical properties to shrink the electronic bandgap, allowing the device to operate at near infrared wavelengths, namely at the telecommunication (C-band) relevant wavelength around 1550 nm.
Journal Reference:
R. Maiti, C. Patil, M. A. S. R. Saadi, et al. Strain-engineered high-responsivity MoTe 2 photodetector for silicon photonic integrated circuits, Nature Photonics (DOI: 10.1038/s41566-020-0647-4)
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