Rishi MAITI : Shedding light on 2D Materials: A Path towards Next-Generation Photonics

Over the past decade, nanophotonics has significantly advanced the development of integrated circuits for large-scale applications such as information processing, quantum technology, on-chip metrology and sensing. Despite these strides, current platforms face a balance issue between optical loss and device efficiency, highlighting the need for new materials and innovative  photonic devices for the next generation. Recently, two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals materials have been identified as extremely promising platform due to their rich verities of optical and electronic  properties which can enable ultra-compact and efficient light generation, modulation, and detection [1,2].

In this presentation, I will  introduce several classes of photonic cavity structures in a 2D materials-based heterogeneous architecture [3]. The first part will focus on some of our recent results on design  and numerical simulations of various nanophotonic geometry. Secondly, we discuss our results on passive coupling tunability and index determination using a semi-empirical approach with heterogeneously integrating TMDs layer on Si micro-ring resonator for broadband on-chip modulators and photodetectors with high-speed and high responsivity [4]. Finally, I will discuss some of our latest results on strain engineering of 2D materials for quantum photonic applications. Our results indicate that 2D materials could be an essential building block for a fully integrated photonic circuit for metrology, sensing, and telecommunication, both in the classical and quantum mechanical regimes.

[4] R Maiti, et al. “Strain-Engineered High Responsivity MoTe₂ Photodetector for Silicon Photonic Integrated Circuits”, Nature Photonics, 14(9), 578-584, (2020).