All van der Waals Integrated Nanophotonics

TL;DR

This paper proposes all van der Waals integrated nanophotonics using bulk transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs), demonstrating their potential for high-performance, miniaturized, and energy-efficient optical components in integrated photonics.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of all van der Waals nanophotonics with bulk TMDCs and shows their advantages over traditional materials for integrated optical devices.

Findings

Bulk TMDCs have low optical loss and high refractive index in near-infrared and telecom bands.

Theoretical performance suggests TMDC-based components can outperform silicon and III/V counterparts.

Bulk TMDCs enable smaller, more energy-efficient photonic devices with enhanced quantum and classical optical functionalities.

Abstract

Integrated optics is at the heart of a wide range of systems from remote sensing and communications to computing and quantum information processing. Demand for smaller and more energy efficient structures stimulates search for more advanced material platforms. Here, we propose a concept of an all van der Waals photonics, where we show that electronically bulk transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) semiconductors are well fitted for the design of key optical components for nanoscale and integrated photonics. Specifically, we demonstrate theoretically that owing to low optical loss and high refractive index across near-infrared and telecom frequency bands, components made of bulk TMDCs can potentially outperform counterparts made of conventional 3D semiconductors, such as Si and III/Vs. We discuss several key quantum and classical optical components and show that bulk TMDCs may pave the way to smaller footprint devices, more energy efficient electro-optical modulators, and stronger quantum light-materials interaction. Enhanced optical performance, ease of integration, and a wide selection of materials suggest that bulk TMDCs may complement and, potentially, replace existing integrated photonics systems.