Folding 2D materials gives them new properties useful for quantum communications

The use of 2D materials for nonlinear optics are limited by intrinsically small light-matter interaction length and (typically) flat-lying geometries. Researchers in the UK arranged 2D sheets of tungsten (WS2) in a new way to create a 3D arrangement they called a nanomesh.  Its unique characteristics are the result of the specific synthesis process they developed. Only light with energy larger than the energy gap can interact with the material in a useful way. If new energy levels are introduced inside this energy gap, the doubling of frequency of the light that passes through the material is much more efficient and can take place over a larger range of wavelengths. This is exactly what the nanomesh achieves, it changes the energy landscape – the energy bands, energy gaps and energy levels inside the gap – of the material. Theresearchers demonstrated that the nanomesh material efficiently converted one laser colour into another over a broad palette of colours. Compared to flat-lying WS2 layers, the nanomesh is highly efficient and responds to a wide range of light wavelengths, while also being durable and able to be grown over large areas. The nanomesh is simple to produce at large scale and offers interaction with light that can be tuned. Such hybrids would offer additional ways to change laser light passing through them…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE