Electron Pumping in Graphene Mechanical Resonators

The combination of high-frequency vibrations and metallic transport in graphene makes it a unique material for nanoelectromechanical devices. In this Letter, we show that graphene-based nanoelectromechanical devices are extremely well suited for charge pumping due to the sensitivity of its transport coefficients to perturbations in electrostatic potential and mechanical deformations, with the potential for novel small scale devices with useful applications

Multilayer Black Phosphorus as a Versatile Mid-Infrared Electro-optic Material

We investigate the electro-optic properties of black phosphorus (BP) thin films for optical modulation in the mid-infrared frequencies. Our calculation indicates that an applied out-of-plane electric field may lead to red-, blue-, or bidirectional shift in BP’s absorption edge. This is due to the interplay between the field-induced quantum-confined Franz-Keldysh effect and the Pauli-blocked Burstein–Moss shift. The relative contribution of the two electro-absorption mechanisms depends on doping range, operating wavelength, and BP film thickness. For proof-of concept, simple modulator configuration with BP overlaid over a silicon nanowire is studied. Simulation results show that operating BP in the quantum-confined Franz-Keldysh regime can improve the maximal attainable absorption as well as power efficiency compared to its graphene counterpart

Tunable Phonon-Induced Transparency in Bilayer Graphene Nanoribbons

In the phenomenon of plasmon-induced transparency, which is a classical analogue of electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in atomic gases, the coherent interference between two plasmon modes results in an optical transparency window in a broad absorption spectrum. With the requirement of contrasting lifetimes, typically one of the plasmon modes involved is a dark mode that has limited coupling to the electromagnetic radiation and possesses relatively longer lifetime. Plasmon-induced transparency not only leads to light transmission at otherwise opaque frequency regions but also results in the slowing of light group velocity and enhanced optical nonlinearity. In this article, we report an analogous behavior, denoted as phonon-induced transparency (PIT), in AB-stacked bilayer graphene nanoribbons. Here, light absorption due to the plasmon excitation is suppressed in a narrow window due to the coupling with the infrared active Γ-point optical phonon, whose function here is similar to that of the dark plasmon mode in the plasmon-induced transparency. We further show that PIT in bilayer graphene is actively tunable by electrostatic gating and estimate a maximum slow light factor of around 500 at the phonon frequency of 1580 cm^–1, based on the measured spectra. Our demonstration opens an avenue for the exploration of few-photon nonlinear optics and slow light in this novel two-dimensional material

Layer-Tunable Third-Harmonic Generation in Multilayer Black Phosphorus

Black phosphorus has been the subject of growing interest due to its unique band structure that is both layer dependent and anisotropic. While many have studied the linear optical response of black phosphorus, the nonlinear response has remained relatively unexplored. Here we report on the observation of third-harmonic generation in black phosphorus using an ultrafast near-IR laser and measure χ⁽³⁾ experimentally for the first time. It was found that the third-harmonic emission is highly anisotropic, dependent on the incident polarization, and varies strongly with the number of layers present due to signal depletion and phase-matching conditions

Midinfrared Electro-optic Modulation in Few-Layer Black Phosphorus

Black phosphorus stands out from the family of two-dimensional materials as a semiconductor with a direct, layer-dependent bandgap spanning the visible to mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral range. It is, therefore, a very promising material for various optoelectronic applications, particularly in the important mid-IR range. While mid-IR technology has been advancing rapidly, both photodetection and electro-optic modulation in the mid-IR rely on narrow-band compound semiconductors, which are difficult and expensive to integrate with the ubiquitous silicon photonics. For mid-IR photodetection, black phosphorus has already been proven to be a viable alternative. Here, we demonstrate electro-optic modulation of mid-IR absorption in few-layer black phosphorus. Our experimental and theoretical results find that, within the doping range obtainable in our samples, the quantum confined Franz–Keldysh effect is the dominant mechanism of electro-optic modulation. A spectroscopic study on samples with varying thicknesses reveals strong layer dependence in the interband transition between specific pairs of sub-bands. Our results show that black phosphorus is a very promising material to realizing efficient mid-IR modulators

Anomalous Temperature Dependence in Metal–Black Phosphorus Contact

Metal–semiconductor contact has been the performance limiting problem for electronic devices and also dictates the scaling potential for future generation devices based on novel channel materials. Two-dimensional semiconductors beyond graphene, particularly few layer black phosphorus, have attracted much attention due to their exceptional electronic properties such as anisotropy and high mobility. However, due to its ultrathin body nature, few layer black phosphorus–metal contact behaves differently than conventional Schottky barrier (SB) junctions, and the mechanisms of its carrier transport across such a barrier remain elusive. In this work, we examine the transport characteristic of metal–black phosphorus contact under varying temperature. We elucidated the origin of apparent negative SB heights extracted from classical thermionic emission model and also the phenomenon of metal–insulator transition observed in the current–temperature transistor characteristic. In essence, we found that the SB height can be modulated by the back-gate voltage, which beyond a certain critical point becomes so low that the injected carrier can no longer be described by the conventional thermionic emission theory. The transition from transport dominated by a Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution for the high energy tail states, to that of a Fermi distribution by low energy Fermi sea electrons, is the physical origin of the observed metal–insulator transition. We identified two distinctive tunneling limited transport regimes in the contact: vertical and longitudinal tunneling

Structure and Electronic Transport in Graphene Wrinkles

Wrinkling is a ubiquitous phenomenon in two-dimensional membranes. In particular, in the large-scale growth of graphene on metallic substrates, high densities of wrinkles are commonly observed. Despite their prevalence and potential impact on large-scale graphene electronics, relatively little is known about their structural morphology and electronic properties. Surveying the graphene landscape using atomic force microscopy, we found that wrinkles reach a certain maximum height before folding over. Calculations of the energetics explain the morphological transition and indicate that the tall ripples are collapsed into narrow standing wrinkles by van der Waals forces, analogous to large-diameter nanotubes. Quantum transport calculations show that conductance through these “collapsed<i> </i>wrinkle” structures is limited mainly by a density-of-states bottleneck and by interlayer tunneling across the collapsed bilayer region. Also through systematic measurements across large numbers of devices with wide “folded<i> </i>wrinkles”, we find a distinct anisotropy in their electrical resistivity, consistent with our transport simulations. These results highlight the coupling between morphology and electronic properties, which has important practical implications for large-scale high-speed graphene electronics

Dipole-matter interactions governed by the asymmetry of Maxwell equations

Directionally molding the near-field and far-field radiation lies at the heart of nanophotonics and is crucial for applications such as on-chip information processing and chiral quantum networks. The most fundamental model for radiating structures is a dipolar source located inside a homogeneous matter. However, the influence of matter on the directionality of dipolar radiation is oftentimes overlooked, especially for the near-field radiation. We show that the dipole-matter interaction is intrinsically asymmetric and does not fulfill the duality principle, originating from the inherent asymmetry of Maxwell equations, i.e., electric charge and current are ubiquitous but their magnetic counterparts are non-existent to elusive. Moreover, we find that the asymmetric dipole-matter interaction could offer an enticing route to reshape the directionality of not only the near-field radiation but also the far-field radiation. As an example, both the near-field and far-field radiation directionality of Huygens dipole (located close to a dielectric-metal interface) would be reversed, if the dipolar position is changed from the dielectric region to the metal region

Ultrafast Graphene Light Emitters

Ultrafast electrically driven nanoscale light sources are critical components in nanophotonics. Compound semiconductor-based light sources for the nanophotonic platforms have been extensively investigated over the past decades. However, monolithic ultrafast light sources with a small footprint remain a challenge. Here, we demonstrate electrically driven ultrafast graphene light emitters that achieve light pulse generation with up to 10 GHz bandwidth across a broad spectral range from the visible to the near-infrared. The fast response results from ultrafast charge-carrier dynamics in graphene and weak electron-acoustic phonon-mediated coupling between the electronic and lattice degrees of freedom. We also find that encapsulating graphene with hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) layers strongly modifies the emission spectrum by changing the local optical density of states, thus providing up to 460% enhancement compared to the gray-body thermal radiation for a broad peak centered at 720 nm. Furthermore, the hBN encapsulation layers permit stable and bright visible thermal radiation with electronic temperatures up to 2000 K under ambient conditions as well as efficient ultrafast electronic cooling via near-field coupling to hybrid polaritonic modes under electrical excitation. These high-speed graphene light emitters provide a promising path for on-chip light sources for optical communications and other optoelectronic applications