Gate-Tunable Optical Nonlinearities and Extinction in Graphene/LaAlO<sub>3</sub>/SrTiO<sub>3</sub> Nanostructures.

Sheridan, Erin; Chen, Lu; Li, Jianan; Guo, Qing; Hao, Shan; Yu, Muqing; Eom, Ki-Tae; Lee, Hyungwoo et al. · Nano Lett · 2020

basic_science · Level V

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Abstract

We explore the ultrafast optical response of graphene subjected to intense (∼10<sup>6</sup> V/cm) local (∼10 nm) electric fields. Nanoscale gating of graphene is achieved using a voltage-biased, SrTiO<sub>3</sub>-based conductive nanowire junction "written" directly under the graphene and isolated from it by an insulating ultrathin (<2 nm) LaAlO<sub>3</sub> barrier. Upon illumination with ultrafast visible-to-near-infrared (VIS-NIR) light pulses, the local field from the nanojunction creates a strong gate-tunable second-order nonlinearity in the graphene and produces a substantial difference-frequency (DFG) and sum-frequency generation (SFG) response detected by the nanojunction. Spectrally sharp, gate-tunable extinction features (>99.9%) are observed in the VIS-NIR and SFG spectral ranges, in parameter regimes that are positively correlated with the enhanced nonlinear response. The observed graphene-light interaction and nonlinear response are of fundamental interest and open the way for future exploitation in graphene-based optical devices such as phase shifters, modulators, and nanoscale THz sources.