Van der Waals heterostructures as a platform for integrated nanophotonics
Abstract
The aim of this effort is to identify novel van der Waals heterostructure (vdWh) architectures to advance the state of the art in integrated nanophotonic lasers as well as realize proof of principle microcavity nano polaritonic circuitry. Van der Waal heterostructures, the layering of insulating, metallic and semiconducting two dimensional (2D) materials, will be used to quantum engineer the nanophotonic system’s excitonic and polaritonic resonances. The vdWh excitons will be made to interact with a variety of confined photon geometries entering two distinct regimes of lightmatter interaction, the weak coupling and strong coupling regime. In the former (weak coupling), the device can operate as a conventional “photon laser”. In the context of photon lasers, the program will focus on incorporating vdWhs into nanophotonic integrated circuits to realize an onchip source of coherent light. Both conventional and valley laser configurations will be explored. Never before demonstrated, valley lasing will diversify the laser gain medium leading to low threshold laser operation. In the strong coupling regime, the composite photon exciton particles – so called cavity polaritons – can give rise to novel “polaritonic lasing”, that also exhibits low thresholds, as well enable approaches to nano polaritonic circuitry. The strong nonlinearity possessed by cavity polaritons, enhanced in a vdWh, will provide novel configurations for nanopolaritonic modulators and switches. In the proposed lasing configurations, threshold reduction is paramount, since it fundamentally constrains the operating bandwidth of direct laser modulation schemes limiting achievable data communication rates. Device fabrication with AIM Photonics.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 14, 2022
- Source ID
- FA95501910074
Entities
People
- Anthony Vamivakas
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- United States Air Force
- University of Rochester