2D semiconductor nonlinear plasmonic modulators.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 31332203.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-019-11186-w and PMC identifier 6646399.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
A plasmonic modulator is a device that controls the amplitude or phase of propagating plasmons. In a pure plasmonic modulator, the presence or absence of a plasmonic pump wave controls the amplitude of a plasmonic probe wave through a channel. This control has to be mediated by an interaction between disparate plasmonic waves, typically requiring the integration of a nonlinear material. In this work, we demonstrate a 2D semiconductor nonlinear plasmonic modulator based on a WSe<sub>2</sub> monolayer integrated on top of a lithographically defined metallic waveguide. We utilize the strong interaction between the surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) and excitons in the WSe<sub>2</sub> to give a 73 % change in transmission through the device. We demonstrate control of the propagating SPPs using both optical and SPP pumps, realizing a 2D semiconductor nonlinear plasmonic modulator, with an ultrafast response time of 290 fs.