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Wavelength-Tunable Mid-Infrared Lasing from Black Phosphorus Nanosheets
Yushuang Zhang1, Shaowei Wang2, Shula Chen1
1Key Laboratory for Micro-Nano Physics and Technology of Hunan Province, State Key Laboratory of Chemo/Biosensing and Chemometrics, College of Materials Science and Engineering, Hunan University, Changsha, Hunan, 410082, China.
Advanced Materials (Deerfield Beach, Fla.)
|March 12, 2020
Summary
Black phosphorus (BP) enables room-temperature mid-infrared (MIR) lasers with tunable wavelengths and high polarization. This breakthrough advances applications in IR imaging and quantum communications.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Optoelectronics
- Condensed Matter Physics
Background:
- Van der Waals layered semiconductors offer unique properties for advanced electronic and photonic devices.
- Black phosphorus (BP) possesses a layer-dependent direct band gap spanning the near- to mid-infrared (MIR) spectrum.
- BP's unique crystal structure provides linear polarization and anisotropic carrier transport, ideal for MIR coherent light sources.
Purpose of the Study:
- To demonstrate a room-temperature surface-emitting MIR laser utilizing single crystalline black phosphorus (BP) nanosheets.
- To investigate the lasing characteristics, including polarization, thermal stability, and wavelength tunability of the BP-based device.
- To explore the potential of BP as a building block for MIR photonic applications.
Main Methods:
- Fabrication of a MIR laser device by coupling single crystalline BP nanosheets with a distributed Bragg reflector cavity.
- Characterization of stimulated emission, linear polarization, and thermal stability at room temperature.
- Tuning of the lasing wavelength by controlling the BP layer thickness to vary the cavity length.
Main Results:
- Achieved MIR stimulated emission at 3611 nm with near-unity linear polarization.
- Demonstrated robust thermal stability of the lasing performance up to 360 K.
- Successfully tuned the lasing wavelength from 3425 to 4068 nm by adjusting the BP layer thickness.
Conclusions:
- The developed BP-based MIR laser exhibits high polarization and wavelength tunability.
- This technology shows significant promise for applications in polarization-resolved IR imaging, range-finding, and free-space quantum communications.
- BP is a viable and promising material for constructing efficient and tunable MIR coherent light sources.
