Elastomeric waveguide on-chip coupling of an encapsulated MoS$_2$ monolayer

TL;DR

This paper introduces a flexible, elastomeric waveguide platform for encapsulating and optically addressing monolayer MoS$_2$, enabling polarization-resolved measurements and mechanical coupling in a robust, simplified manner.

Contribution

It presents a novel elastomeric waveguide chip for encapsulating 2D materials, allowing efficient optical addressing and mechanical coupling, with improved handling over existing methods.

Findings

Achieved polarization-resolved photoluminescence with extinction ratio of 31.

Demonstrated mechanical flexibility for direct coupling to embedded materials.

Simplified experimental setup compared to traditional techniques.

Abstract

We propose a robust photonic platform for encapsulation and addressing of optically active 2D- and nano-materials. Our implementation utilises a monolayer of MoS$_2$ transition metal dichalcogenide embedded in an elastomeric waveguide chip. The structure is manufactured from PDMS using soft-lithography and capable of sustaining a single mode of guided light. We prove that this setup facilitates addressing of the 2D material flake by pumping it with polarised laser light and gathering polarisation-resolved photoluminescence spectra with the extinction ratio of 31, which highlights the potential for selection-rule dependent measurements. Our results demonstrate improved handling of the material and experimental simplification compared to other techniques. Furthermore, inherent elasticity of the host provides an avenue for direct mechanical coupling to embedded materials.