Strainoptronics: A new way to control photons

Science Daily  June 22, 2020
2D materials have scientific and technologically relevant properties for photodetectors. But they do not operate efficiently at telecommunication wavelengths. However, they are particularly promising candidates for strain engineering because they can withstand larger amounts of strain before rupture. An international team of researchers (USA – George Washington University, University of Minnesota, UT Austin, University of Pennsylvania, Belgium) stretched an ultrathin layer of molybdenum telluride on top of a silicon photonic waveguide to assemble a novel photodetector. They used the 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 relevant wavelength around 1550 nm. They showed that the 2D material-based photodetectors are 1,000 times more sensitive compared to other photodetectors using graphene. Such photodetectors are useful not only for data communication applications but also for medical sensing and possibly even quantum information systems…read more. TECHNICAL ATICLE