2D Material Light Sources for Plasmonic Waveguides, 2D-PLASWAVE
Name of applicant
Christian Frydendahl
Institution
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Amount
DKK 1,354,000
Year
2021
Type of grant
Reintegration Fellowships
What?
The goal of the project is to study the integration of 2D materials together with plasmonic waveguides for use as efficient direct on-chip light sources with applications such as biosensing and photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Plasmons allow for the guiding and directing of light into metallic circuits on the nanoscale, enabling photonic chips where similar to how electronic chips carry and guide electrons around in wires in electrical currents, instead light/photons are guided around for on-chip optical applications and experiments. 2D materials are a promising candidate for a future platform of on-chip light sources for PICs. But their 2D nature make their overall light emission efficiency low, and thus special care is required for how to best use them for practical applications.
Why?
How to integrate 2D materials best and most efficiently with integrated photonics is currently a topic of much study. There have already been several studies observing laser-like emission from 2D materials coupled to integrated photonic cavities, as well as demonstrations of how general light emission efficiency of 2D materials can be enhanced by photonic nanostructures. However, there are currently very few studies into how to couple the emitted light from 2D material light sources into photonic waveguides with high efficiency. Because of their flat nature, 2D materials generally emit light from a large wide area, which poses a unique challenge in terms of collecting the light and squeezing/funnelling it into a nanoscale waveguide structure without a large amount of loss.
How?
During the project I will be designing and fabricating several plasmonic waveguide geometries and integrating them with 2D materials in order to study the most efficient waveguide designs for collecting light emitted from the 2D material. The waveguides will utilise tapered geometries, accommodating a large area input of light, while still narrowing the waveguide cross-section down to just a few nanometres - essentially working as a funnel that squeezes light. By stacking different 2D materials into various heterostructures it is possible to make 2D light emitting diodes (LEDs). A big part of the project will be to develop such 2D LEDs and bringing them into contact with the optical chips and funnel their light emission into the waveguide system.