Prospect of large scale 2D transition metal dichalcogenides nanophotonics for optical communications

Two-dimensional (2D) materials with innate thinness exhibit unique electronic properties different from their bulk form could open up new opportunities in a diverse electronics and photonics field. To integrate 2D layered materials for scalable manufacturing, large-area synthesis to produce high quality film with precise control of thickness and uniformity is necessary. This work reported the first demonstration of high performance 2D-TMD photodetectors realized on a large area MoS₂ crystal synthesized by magnetron sputtering. Due to an inherent film strain and through MoS₂ thickness tuning, the photodetectors achieved an improved performance over a wide spectral range from the visible to the near-infrared band, making it potentially useful for optical communication applications. Through integration with optical waveguides, the light-matter interactions between incident photons and 2D absorption materials could be further enhanced. When coupled with the use of 2D heterostructures where a narrow bandgap black phosphorous (BP) is sandwiched between TMDs, efficient lasing with tunable wavelengths could be achieved via radiative recombination in the active BP emission material.