Parametric Nonlinear Optics with Layered Materials and Related Heterostructures

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in nonlinear optics using layered 2D materials and heterostructures, emphasizing their high nonlinear susceptibilities, integration ease, and broad bandwidth capabilities for various photonic applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent progress and future prospects in nonlinear optics with atomically thin layered materials and heterostructures.

Findings

Layered materials exhibit large nonlinear optical susceptibilities.

2D nature relaxes phase-matching constraints, enabling broad bandwidth processes.

Recent advances impact both fundamental understanding and technological applications.

Abstract

Nonlinear optics is of crucial importance in several fields of science and technology with applications in frequency conversion, entangled-photon generation, self-referencing of frequency combs, crystal characterization, sensing, and ultra-short light pulse generation and characterization. In recent years, layered materials and related heterostructures have attracted huge attention in this field, due to their huge nonlinear optical susceptibilities, their ease of integration on photonic platforms, and their 2D nature which relaxes the phase-matching constraints and thus offers a practically unlimited bandwidth for parametric nonlinear processes. In this review the most recent advances in this field, highlighting their importance and impact both for fundamental and technological aspects, are reported and explained, and an outlook on future research directions for nonlinear optics with atomically thin materials is provided.