Bloch Surface Wave‐Assisted Ultrafast All‐Optical Switching in Graphene. Issue 4 (20th December 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Popkova, Anna A.; Chezhegov, Aleksandr A.; Rybin, Maxim G.; Soboleva, Irina V.; Obraztsova, Elena D.; Bessonov, Vladimir O.; Fedyanin, Andrey A.
• Is Part Of: Advanced optical materials. Volume 10:Issue 4(2022)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-12-20
• Subjects: all‐optical switching -- Bloch surface waves -- graphene -- pump‐probe technique -- temporal dynamics; Optical materials -- Periodicals; Photonics -- Periodicals; 620.11295
• DOI: 10.1002/adom.202101937
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2195-1071

Abstract

Abstract: Graphene has ultrafast charge carrier dynamic and shows strong light–matter interaction allowing the use in photovoltaic devices, fast photodetectors, saturable absorbers, and electro‐optical modulators. However, despite the high nonlinear optical susceptibilities, the small amount of material significantly limits the use of graphene for nonlinear optical applications. In this work, Bloch surface waves (BSWs) are employed, enhancing the graphene–light interaction, for all‐optical switching realization. By placing a graphene monolayer on top of a 1D photonic crystal, it is shown that for the wavelength corresponding to the BSW resonance, the reflection coefficient is modulated on the sub‐picosecond time scale by an order of magnitude larger than that for bare graphene. The magnitude of the reflection change reaches 0.3% at the fluence of 40 µJ cm −2 . The reported results are proof of priciple possibility of BSW‐assisted enhancing the reflection modulation of any 2D materials and transparent thin films while maintaining their inherent ultrafast dynamics, which is useful for the further development of all‐optical switches. Abstract : Bloch surface waves (BSWs) excited at the photonic crystal/graphene interface enhance significantly the magnitude of all‐optical reflectance modulation of graphene while maintaining its ultrafast dynamics. The BSW resonance wavelength can be easily tuned by changing photonic crystal parameters. The BSW‐assisted enhancement method can be applied for any 2D materials and transparent thin films.