arXiv subjects

Kian Ping Loh

Publications and source records attributed to Kian Ping Loh.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2016

Engineering bandgaps of monolayer MoS2 and WS2 on fluoropolymer substrates by electrostatically tuned many-body effects

Intrinsic electrical and excitonic properties of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides are studied on CYTOP fluoropolymer substrates with greatly suppressed unintentional doping and dielectric screening. Ambipolar transport behavior is observed in monolayer WS2 by applying solid states backdates. The excitonic properties of monolayer MoS2 and WS2 are determined by intricate interplays between the bandage renormalization, Pauli blocking and carrier screening against carrier doping.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Generation of 30-fs pulses from a diode-pumped graphene mode-locked Yb:CaYAlO4 laser

Stable 30 fs pulses centered at 1068 nm (less than 10 optical cycles) are demonstrated in a diode pumped Yb:CaYAlO4 laser by using high-quality chemical vapor deposited monolayer graphene as the saturable absorber. The mode locked 8.43 optical-cycle pulses have a spectral bandwidth of ~ 50 nm and a pulse repetition frequency of ~ 113.5 MHz. To our knowledge, this is the shortest pulse ever reported for graphene mode-locked lasers and mode-locked Yb-doped bulk lasers. Our experimental results demonstrate that graphene mode locking is a very promising practical technique to generate few-cycle optical pulses directly from a laser oscillator.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2015

Graphene Nanobubble: A New Optical Nonlinear Material

Graphene is a rising star in nonlinear optics due to its saturable absorption and giant Kerr nonlinearity, these properties are useful in digital optics based on optical nonlinear devices. However, practical applications require large optical nonlinearities and these are inherently limited by the interaction length of atomically thin graphene. Here, we demonstrate optical bistability in a Fabry Perot cavity containing monolayer and bilayer graphene which have been restructured to form nanobubbles. We find that graphene nanobubble can act as a new type of optical nonlinear media due to its vertical side wall as well as added curvature, which enable strong non linear dispersive effects leading to a large optically induced phase change. Unlike thermally induced bistability, the all optical switching between two transmission states happens within a time scale of tens of nanoseconds. Nanobubble based optical devices with intrinsic optical nonlinearity help to overcome the optical path length limitation of atomically thin two dimensional films and allow us to explore the promise of using such elements as the building block of digital all-optical circuitry.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2015

Tunable room-temperature ferromagnet using an iron-oxide and graphene oxide nanocomposite

Magnetic materials have found wide application ranging from electronics and memories to medicine. Essential to these advances is the control of the magnetic order. To date, most room-temperature applications have a fixed magnetic moment whose orientation is manipulated for functionality. Here we demonstrate an iron-oxide and graphene oxide nanocomposite based device that acts as a tunable ferromagnet at room temperature. Not only can we tune its transition temperature in a wide range of temperatures around room temperature, but the magnetization can also be tuned from zero to 0.011 A.m$^2$/kg through an initialization process with two readily accessible knobs (magnetic field and electric current), after which the system retains its magnetic properties semi-permanently until the next initialization process. We construct a theoretical model to illustrate that this tunability originates from an indirect exchange interaction mediated by spin-imbalanced electrons inside the nanocomposite.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Optical conductivity renormalization of graphene on SrTiO$_{3}$ due to resonant excitonic effects mediated by Ti 3\textit{d} orbitals

We present evidence of a drastic renormalization of the optical conductivity of graphene on SrTiO$_3$ resulting in almost full transparency in the ultraviolet region. These findings are attributed to resonant excitonic effects further supported by \emph{ab initio} Bethe-Salpeter equation and density functional theory calculations. The ($π$,$π$*)-orbitals of graphene and Ti-3\textit{d} $t_{2g}$ orbitals of SrTiO$_3$ are strongly hybridized and the interactions of electron-hole states residing in those orbitals play dominant role in the graphene optical conductivity. These interactions are present much below the optical band gap of bulk SrTiO$_3$. These results open a possibility of manipulating interaction strengths in graphene via \textit {d}-orbitals which could be crucial for optical applications.

cond-mat.str-el↗

arXiv2014

Length-dependent thermal conductivity in suspended single-layer graphene

Graphene exhibits extraordinary electronic and mechanical properties, and extremely high thermal conductivity. Being a very stable atomically thick membrane that can be suspended between two leads, graphene provides a perfect test platform for studying thermal conductivity in two-dimensional systems, which is of primary importance for phonon transport in low-dimensional materials. Here we report experimental measurements and non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of thermal conduction in suspended single layer graphene as a function of both temperature and sample length. Interestingly and in contrast to bulk materials, when temperature at 300K, thermal conductivity keeps increasing and remains logarithmic divergence with sample length even for sample lengths much larger than the average phonon mean free path. This result is a consequence of the two-dimensional nature of phonons in graphene and provides fundamental understanding into thermal transport in two-dimensional materials.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

First-principles study of the thermoelectric properties of strained graphene nanoribbons

We study the transport properties, in particular, the thermoelectric figure of merit ZT of armchair graphene nanoribbons, AGNR-N (for N=4-12, with widths ranging from 3.7 to 13.6~Å) through strain engineering, where N is the number of carbon dimer lines across the AGNR width. We find that the tensile strain applied to AGNR-$N$ changes the transport properties by modifying the electronic structures and phonon dispersion relations. The tensile strain increases the ZT value of the AGNR-$N$ families with N=3p and N=3p+2, where $p$ is an integer. Our analysis based on accurate density-functional theory calculations suggests a possible route to increase the ZT values of AGNR-$N$ for potential thermoelectric applications.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Strain dependence of the heat transport properties of graphene nanoribbons

Using a combination of accurate density-functional theory and a nonequilibrium Green function's method, we calculate the ballistic thermal conductance characteristics of tensile-strained armchair (AGNR) and zigzag (ZGNR) edge graphene nanoribbons, with widths between 3-50 Å. The optimized lateral lattice constants for AGNRs of different widths display a three-family behavior when the ribbons are grouped according to N modulo 3, where $N$ represents the number of carbon atoms across the width of the ribbon. Two lowest-frequency out-of-plane acoustic modes play a decisive role in increasing the thermal conductance of AGNR-N at low temperatures. At high temperatures the effect of tensile strain is to reduce the thermal conductance of AGNR-N and ZGNR-N. These results could be explained by the changes in force constants in the in-plane and out-of-plane directions with the application of strain. This fundamental atomistic understanding of the heat transport in graphene nanoribbons paves a way to effect changes in their thermal properties via strain at various temperatures.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2013

Graphene-enhanced, internal-magnetic-field-generated Rabi oscillations in metal-coated Si-SiO2 photoconductive detectors

We report our demonstration of Rabi oscillations in Si-SiO2-Al photoconductive devices with nanosecond laser pulses of a few nJ at room temperature without external magnetic fields. Zeeman splitting of spin quantum states of dopants in silicon is achieved with internal magnetic fields produced by the Al film under excitation of laser pulses. Rabi oscillation frequency is 15 MHz and 25 MHz when photocurrent direction is perpendicular and parallel, respectively, to the propagation direction of linearly-polarized, 532-nm, 7-ns laser pulses. Insertion of graphene buffer layer between Al and SiO2 provides a three-fold enhancement in Rabi oscillation amplitude. This simple-structured, low-cost device operated at room temperature should open a new avenue for future spin-based electronics and optoelectronics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Seeding ice growth at ambient conditions using nano graphene oxide

Water wetting on a hydrophobic surface at ambient conditions is disallowed by the nonpolar nature of the surface and high vapor pressure of water. However, the presence of sub-millimeter sized hydrophilic patches allows the waxy wings of desert beetles to become wettable by morning mist. Here, we show that a sprinkle of graphene oxide nanoflakes (nanoGOs) is effective in condensing water nanodroplets and seeding ice epitaxy on graphite at ambient conditions. By controlling relative humidity and nanoGO density, we are able to study the formation of a complete ice wetting layer on a time scale of 20 hours. This presents an unprecedented opportunity to visualize ice nucleation and growth in real time using non-contact atomic force microscopy. The stages of crystallization, as proposed by Ostwald in 1897, is fully unfolded at a microscopic level for the first time. We obtain real-time imaging of sequential phase transition from amorphous ice to a transient cubic ice Ic stage and finally to the stable hexagonal ice Ih. Most interestingly, we discover that ice nucleation and growth can be influenced by modifying the functional groups of nanoGO, and by intermolecular hydrogen-bonding between nanoGOs. This affords a strategy to control heterogenous ice nucleation and snow crystal formation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Achieving Giant Magneto-optic Effects with Optical Tamm States in Graphene-based Photonics

We manipulate optical Tamm states in graphene-based photonics to achieve and steer large magneto-optical effects. Here we report the presence of a giant Faraday rotation via a single graphene layer of atomic thickness while keeping a high transmission. The Faraday rotation is enhanced across the interface between two photonic crystals due to the presence of an interface mode, which presents a strong electromagnetic field confinement at the location of the graphene sheet. Our proposed scheme opens a promising avenue to realize high performance graphene magneto-optical devices that can be extended to other two-dimensional structures.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2013

Terahertz conductivity of twisted bilayer graphene

Using terahertz time-domain spectroscopy, the real part of optical conductivity [$σ_{1}(ω)$] of twisted bilayer graphene was obtained at different temperatures (10 -- 300 K) in the frequency range 0.3 -- 3 THz. On top of a Drude-like response, we see a strong peak in $σ_{1} (ω)$ at $\sim$2.7 THz. We analyze the overall Drude-like response using a disorder-dependent (unitary scattering) model, then attribute the peak at 2.7 THz to an enhanced density of states at that energy, that is caused by the presence of a van Hove singularity arising from a commensurate twisting of the two graphene layers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Optical conductivity study of screening of many-body effects in graphene interfaces

Theoretical studies have shown that electron-electron (e-e) and electron-hole (e-h) interactions play important roles in many observed quantum properties of graphene making this an ideal system to study many body effects. In this report we show that spectroscopic ellipsometry can enable us to measure this interactions quantitatively. We present spectroscopic data in two extreme systems of graphene on quartz (GOQ), an insulator, and graphene on copper (GOC), a metal which show that for GOQ, both e-e and e-h interactions dominate while for GOC e-h interactions are screened. The data further enables the estimation of the strength of the many body interaction through the effective fine structure constant, $α_{g}^{*}$. The $α_{g}^{*}$ for GOQ indicates a strong correlation with an almost energy independent value of about 1.37. In contrast, $α_{g}^{*}$ value of GOC is photon energy dependent, is almost two orders of magnitude lower at low energies indicating very weak correlation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Large nonlinear Kerr effect in graphene

Under strong laser illumination, few-layer graphene exhibits both a transmittance increase due to saturable absorption and a nonlinear phase shift. Here, we unambiguously distinguish these two nonlinear optical effects and identify both real and imaginary parts of the complex nonlinear refractive index of graphene. We show that graphene possesses a giant nonlinear refractive index n2=10-7cm2W-1, almost nine orders of magnitude larger than bulk dielectrics. We find that the nonlinear refractive index decreases with increasing excitation flux but slower than the absorption. This suggests that graphene may be a very promising nonlinear medium, paving the way for graphene-based nonlinear photonics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2011

Two-probe study of hot carriers in reduced graphene oxide

The energy relaxation of carriers in reduced graphene oxide thin films is studied using optical pump-probe spectroscopy with two probes of different colors. We measure the time difference between peaks of the carrier density at each probing energy by measuring a time-resolved differential transmission and find that the carrier density at the lower probing energy peaks later than that at the higher probing energy. Also, we find that the peak time for the lower probing energy shifts from about 92 to 37 fs after the higher probing energy peak as the carrier density is increased from 1.5E12 to 3E13 per square centimeter, while no noticeable shift is observed in that for the higher probing energy. Assuming the carriers rapidly thermalize after excitation, this indicates that the optical phonon emission time decreases from about 50 to about 20 fs and the energy relaxation rate increases from 4 to 10 meV/fs. The observed density dependence is inconsistent with the phonon bottleneck effect.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Hot carrier diffusion in graphene

We report an optical study of charge transport in graphene. Diffusion of hot carriers in epitaxial graphene and reduced graphene oxide samples are studied using an ultrafast pump-probe technique with a high spatial resolution. Spatiotemporal dynamics of hot carriers after a point-like excitation are monitored. Carrier diffusion coefficients of 11,000 and 5,500 squared centimeters per second are measured in epitaxial graphene and reduced graphene oxide samples, respectively, with a carrier temperature on the order of 3,600 K. The demonstrated optical techniques can be used for non-contact and non-invasive in-situ detection of transport properties of graphene.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Phonon Transport in Suspended Single Layer Graphene

We report the first temperature dependent phonon transport measurements in suspended Cu-CVD single layer graphene (SLG) from 15K to 380K using microfabricated suspended devices. The thermal conductance per unit cross section $σ$/A increases with temperature and exhibits a peak near T~280K ($\pm$10K) due to the Umklapp process. At low temperatures (T<140K), the temperature dependent thermal conductivity scales as ~T^{1.5}, suggesting that the main contribution to thermal conductance arises from flexural acoustic (ZA) phonons in suspended SLG. The $σ$/A reaches a high value of 1.7$\times10^5 T^{1.5}$ W/m^2K, which is approaching the expected ballistic phonon thermal conductance for two-dimensional graphene sheets. Our results not only clarify the ambiguity in the thermal conductance, but also demonstrate the potential of Cu-CVD graphene for heat related applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2010

Monolayer Graphene as Saturable Absorber in Mode-locked Laser

We demonstrate that the intrinsic properties of monolayer graphene allow it to act as a more effective saturable absorber for mode-locking fiber lasers compared to multilayer graphene. The absorption of monolayer graphene can be saturated at lower excitation intensity compared to multilayer graphene, graphene with wrinkle-like defects, and functionalized graphene. Monolayer graphene has a remarkable large modulation depth of 95.3%, whereas the modulation depth of multilayer graphene is greatly reduced due to nonsaturable absorption and scattering loss. Picoseconds ultrafast laser pulse (1.23 ps) can be generated using monolayer graphene as saturable absorber. Due to the ultrafast relaxation time, larger modulation depth and lower scattering loss of monolayer graphene, it performs better than multilayer graphene in terms of pulse shaping ability, pulse stability and output energy.

physics.optics↗