Evanescent absorption spectroscopy of transition metal dichalcogenide materials using guided photoluminescence in Si$_3$N$_4$ photonic waveguides

Abstract

On-chip integration of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with photonic waveguides underpins a growing class of compact optoelectronic and sensing devices, whose performance depends on the optical absorption of the 2D material in this integrated environment. We demonstrate source-free, on-chip evanescent absorption spectroscopy of MoS$_2$ and WS$_2$ flakes integrated on Si$_3$N$_4$ waveguides, in which the broadband defect-related photoluminescence of the Si$_3$N$_4$ core itself acts as the internal probe. Light generated inside the core propagates under the TMD flake and is spectrally attenuated by evanescent interaction with the 2D material, and normalizing the transmitted spectrum to a reference waveguide without TMD yields the energy-dependent absorption response without any external illumination. The extracted guided absorption agrees with Raman and local micro-photoluminescence characterization and resolves differences between spatially uniform and non-uniform flakes. A complementary top-pumping scheme recovers guided WS$_2$ photoluminescence, whose spectral reshaping during propagation is quantitatively reproduced by the measured absorption. This source-free platform qualifies 2D materials in their integrated photonic environment and provides a direct route toward waveguide-integrated TMD photodetectors and sensors.