Photonique des nanotubes de carbone sur silicium

Semiconducting single wall carbon nanotubes (s-SWNT) have recently attracted a lot of interest due to their tunable direct band gap, making them first-rate candidate for new optoelectronic and photonic applications at telecom wavelengths. In this focus, the objective of the thesis was the determination of semiconducting carbon nanotube optical properties as a function of environment, especially the influence of metallic nanotubes. The selective extraction of semiconducting nanotubes, performed in collaboration with AIST Tsukuba in Japan, led to an enhancement of light emission and a reduction of optical absorption. Moreover, the first evidences of optical gain in (8,6) et (8,7) s-SWNT were demonstrated in highly purified semiconducting carbon nanotubes sample. The optical integration between silicon based nanostructures and carbon nanotubes as an active material was studied. The coupling of the photoluminescence from nanotubes into silicon waveguides was experimentally demonstrated. This work paves the way towards the realization of an integrated light source based on carbon nanotubes in silicon and on the long run, towards carbon nanotube photonics.Depuis leur découverte, les nanotubes de carbone ont suscité un grand interêt pour leurs propriétés électroniques et optiques. Dans ce contexte, l'objectif de la thèse a été d'étudier les propriétés optiques des nanotubes de carbone semiconducteurs pour la réalisation de composants photoniques aux longueurs d'onde des télécommunications. La première partie de la thèse a concerné l'étude de la variation de l'absorption et la photoluminescence des s-SWNTs en fonction de l'environnement des nanotubes: surfactant, matrice solide, solution. A partir d'une méthode d'extraction des s-SWNTs, développée en collaboration avec l'AIST de Tsukuba au Japon, l'influence néfaste des nanotubes métalliques et des impuretés sur les propriétés optiques des s-SWNTs a également été mise en évidence. Les différentes caractérisations effectuées sur des couches minces hautement purifiées en s-SWNTs ont révélés une amélioration du signal de luminescence des nanotubes semiconducteurs d'un facteur 6. Ces résultats ont conduit dans une seconde partie à étudier l'émission des s-SWNTs en régime non linéaire. Un fort gain optique dans les nanotubes semiconducteurs a pu être ainsi démontré expérimentalement pour la première fois. La dernière partie des travaux de thèse a porté sur l'intégration de ces nanotubes de carbone dans des structures photoniques silicium. Une étude approfondie de l'absorption et de la photoluminscence des nanotubes déposés sur des guides d'onde silicium a été effectuée. Ces travaux expérimentaux ouvrent la voie vers la réalisation de sources de lumière intégrées sur silicium à base de nanotubes de carbone et à plus long terme vers une nouvelle photonique à base de nanotubes de carbone

Excitons in bulk black phosphorus evidenced by photoluminescence at low temperature

Atomic layers of Black Phosphorus (BP) present unique opto-electronic properties dominated by a direct tunable bandgap in a wide spectral range from visible to mid-infrared. In this work, we investigate the infrared photoluminescence of BP single crystals at very low temperature. Near-bandedge recombinations are observed at 2 K, including dominant excitonic transitions at 0.276 eV and a weaker one at 0.278 eV. The free-exciton binding energy is calculated with an anisotropic Wannier-Mott model and found equal to 9.1 meV. On the contrary, the PL intensity quenching of the 0.276 eV peak at high temperature is found with a much smaller activation energy, attributed to the localization of free excitons on a shallow impurity. This analysis leads us to attribute respectively the 0.276 eV and 0.278 eV PL lines to bound excitons and free excitons in BP. As a result, the value of bulk BP bandgap is refined to 0.287 eV at 2K

Dyes@BNNT Nanohybrids for Photostable Fluorescence Imaging

C. Allard, R. Nascimento F. Fossard, L. Schué, E. Flahaut, A. Loiseau, P. Desjardins, R. Martel, E. Gaufrès (2019): Dyes@BNNT Nanohybrids for Photostable Fluorescence Imaging. ChemRxiv. Preprint. Fluorescence is ubiquitous in life science and used in broad fields of research going from ecology to medicine. Among the most common fluorogenic compounds, dyes are being exploited in bioimaging for their outstanding optical properties across a broad range of wavelengths from the UV to the near-IR. However, dye molecules are often toxic to living organisms and photodegradable, giving limited time windows for in vivo monitoring. By encapsulating organic dyes inside a boron nitride nanotube (dyes@BNNT), we achieve a passivation of the dyes against photodegradation and chemical reaction. The dyes@BNNT nanohybrids contain aggregated and ordered dyes exhibiting strong photoluminescence with signal remaining stable and exempt of blinking over a time scale of more than 104 compared to free dyes. Our results also suggest reduced toxicity and exceptional chemical robustness even in harsh environments. The use of these 1D dyes@BNNT nanohybrids as fluorescence nanoprobes in bio-imaging is highlighted with in-vivo monitoring experiments on living Daphnia Pulex. File list (2) download file view on ChemRxiv [email protected] (1.53 MiB) download file view on ChemRxiv Supp for Mol@BNNT .pdf (3.54 MiB

Momentum-resolved dielectric response of free-standing mono-, bi-and tri- layer black phosphorus

International audienceBlack phosphorus (BP), a 2D semiconducting material of interest in electronics and photonics, exhibits physical properties characterized by strong anisotropy and band gap energy that scales with reducing layer number. However, the investigation of its intrinsic properties is challenging because thin layer BP are photo oxidized in ambient conditions and the energy of their electronic states shift in different dielectric environment. We prepared free-standing samples of few layer BP in glovebox conditions and probed the dielectric response in vacuum using Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy and Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (STEM-EELS). Thresholds of the excitation energy are measured at 1.9 eV, 1.4 eV and 1.1 eV for the mono-bi-and tri-layer BP, respectively and these values are used to estimate the corresponding optical band gaps. A comparison of our results with electronic structure calculations indicates that the variation of the quasi-particle gap is larger than that of the exciton binding energy. The dispersion of the plasmons versus momentum for 1-3 layer BP and bulk BP highlights a deviation from parabolic to linear dispersion and strong anisotropic fingerprints