arXiv subjects

Qiushi Guo

Publications and source records attributed to Qiushi Guo.

35 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2022

Visible-to-mid-IR tunable frequency comb in nanophotonics

Optical frequency comb is an enabling technology for a multitude of applications from metrology to ranging and communications. The tremendous progress in sources of optical frequency combs has mostly been centered around the near-infrared spectral region while many applications demand sources in the visible and mid-infrared, which have so far been challenging to achieve, especially in nanophotonics. Here, we report frequency combs tunable from visible to mid-infrared on a single chip based on ultra-widely tunable optical parametric oscillators in lithium niobate nanophotonics. Using picosecond-long pump pulses around 1 $μ$m and tuning of the quasi-phase matching, we show sub-picosecond frequency combs tunable beyond an octave extending from 1.5 $μ$m up to 3.3 $μ$m with femtojoule-level thresholds. We utilize the up-conversion of the infrared combs to generate visible frequency combs reaching 620 nm on the same chip. The ultra-broadband tunability and visible-to-mid-infrared spectral coverage of our nanophotonic source can be combined with an on-chip picosecond source as its pump, as well as pulse shortening and spectral broadening mechanisms at its output, all of which are readily available in lithium niobate nanophotonics. Our results highlight a practical and universal path for the realization of efficient frequency comb sources in nanophotonics overcoming their spectral sparsity.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Octave-spanning tunable parametric oscillation in nanophotonics

Widely-tunable coherent sources are desirable in nanophotonics for a multitude of applications ranging from communications to sensing. The mid-infrared spectral region (wavelengths beyond 2 $μ$m) is particularly important for applications relying on molecular spectroscopy. Among tunable sources, optical parametric oscillators typically offer some of the broadest tuning ranges; however, their implementations in nanophotonics have been limited to narrow tuning ranges and only at visible and near-infrared wavelengths. Here, we surpass these limits in dispersion-engineered periodically-poled lithium niobate nanophotonics and demonstrate ultra-widely tunable optical parametric oscillators. With a pump wavelength near 1 $μ$m, we generate output wavelengths tunable from 1.53 $μ$m to 3.25 $μ$m in a single chip with output powers as high as tens of milliwatts. Our results represent the first octave-spanning tunable source in nanophotonics extending into the mid-infrared which can be useful for numerous integrated photonic applications.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Intense optical parametric amplification in dispersion engineered nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides

Strong amplification in integrated photonics is one of the most desired optical functionalities for computing, communications, sensing, and quantum information processing. Semiconductor gain and cubic nonlinearities, such as four-wave mixing and stimulated Raman and Brillouin scattering, have been among the most studied amplification mechanisms on chip. Alternatively, material platforms with strong quadratic nonlinearities promise numerous advantages with respect to gain and bandwidth, among which nanophotonic lithium niobate is one of the most promising candidates. Here, we combine quasi-phase matching with dispersion engineering in nanophotonic lithium niobate waveguides and achieve intense optical parametric amplification. We measure a broadband phase-sensitive on-chip amplification larger than 45 dB/cm in a 2.5-mm-long waveguide. We further confirm high gain operation in the degenerate and non-degenerate regimes by amplifying vacuum fluctuations to macroscopic levels in a 6-mm-long waveguide, with on-chip gains exceeding 100 dB/cm over 600 nm of bandwidth around 2 $μ$m. Our results unlock new possibilities for on-chip few-cycle nonlinear optics, mid-infrared photonics, and quantum photonics.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2022

Few-cycle vacuum squeezing in nanophotonics

One of the most fundamental quantum states of light is squeezed vacuum, in which noise in one of the quadratures is less than the standard quantum noise limit. Significant progress has been made in the generation of optical squeezed vacuum and its utilization for numerous applications. However, it remains challenging to generate, manipulate, and measure such quantum states in nanophotonics with performances required for a wide range of scalable quantum information systems. Here, we overcome this challenge in lithium niobate nanophotonics by utilizing ultrashort-pulse phase-sensitive amplifiers for both generation and all-optical measurement of squeezed states on the same chip. We generate a squeezed state spanning over more than 25 THz of bandwidth supporting only a few optical cycles, and measure a maximum of 4.9 dB of squeezing ($\sim$11 dB inferred). This level of squeezing surpasses the requirements for a wide range of quantum information systems. Our results on generation and measurement of few-optical-cycle squeezed states in nanophotonics enable a practical path towards scalable quantum information systems with THz clock rates and open opportunities for studying non-classical nature of light in the sub-cycle regime.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

All-optical ultrafast ReLU function for energy-efficient nanophotonic deep learning

In recent years, the computational demands of deep learning applications have necessitated the introduction of energy-efficient hardware accelerators. Optical neural networks are a promising option; however, thus far they have been largely limited by the lack of energy-efficient nonlinear optical functions. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an all-optical Rectified Linear Unit (ReLU), which is the most widely used nonlinear activation function for deep learning, using a periodically-poled thin-film lithium niobate nanophotonic waveguide and achieve ultra-low energies in the regime of femtojoules per activation with near-instantaneous operation. Our results provide a clear and practical path towards truly all-optical, energy-efficient nanophotonic deep learning.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2021

Femtojoule, femtosecond all-optical switching in lithium niobate nanophotonics

Optical nonlinear functions are crucial for various applications in integrated photonics, such as all-optical information processing, photonic neural networks and on-chip ultrafast light sources. Due to the weak nonlinearities in most integrated photonic platforms, realizing optical nonlinear functions typically requires large driving energies in the picojoules level or beyond, thus imposing a barrier for most applications. Here, we tackle this challenge and demonstrate an integrated nonlinear splitter device in lithium niobate nano-waveguides by simultaneous engineering of the dispersion and quasi-phase matching. We achieve non-resonant all-optical switching with ultra-low energies down to tens of femtojoules, a near instantaneous switching time of 18 fs, and a large extinction ratio of more than 5 dB. Our nonlinear splitter simultaneously realizes switch-on and -off operations and features a state-of-the-art switching energy-time product as low as $1.4 \times10^{-27}$ J$\cdot$s. We also show a path toward attojoule level all-optical switching by further optimizing the device geometry. Our results can enable on-chip ultrafast and energy-efficient all-optical information processing, computing systems, and light sources.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2020

Non-Dissipative Non-Hermitian Dynamics and Exceptional Points in Coupled Optical Parametric Oscillators

Engineered non-Hermitian systems featuring exceptional points can lead to a host of extraordinary phenomena in diverse fields ranging from photonics, acoustics, opto-mechanics, electronics, to atomic physics. Here we introduce and present non-Hermitian dynamics of coupled optical parametric oscillators (OPOs) arising from phase-sensitive amplification and de-amplification, and show their distinct advantages over conventional non-Hermitian systems relying on laser gain and loss. OPO-based non-Hermitian systems can benefit from the instantaneous nature of the parametric gain, noiseless phase-sensitive amplification, and rich quantum and classical nonlinear dynamics. We show that two coupled OPOs can exhibit spectral anti-PT symmetry and an exceptional point between its degenerate and non-degenerate operation regimes. To demonstrate the distinct potentials of the coupled OPO system compared to conventional non-Hermitian systems, we present higher-order exceptional points with two OPOs, tunable Floquet exceptional points in a reconfigurable dynamic non-Hermitian system, and generation of squeezed vacuum around exceptional points, all of which are not easy to realize in other non-Hermitian platforms. Our results show that coupled OPOs are an outstanding non-Hermitian setting with unprecedented opportunities in realizing nonlinear dynamical systems for enhanced sensing and quantum information processing.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2019

Plasmonics in Atomically-Thin Crystalline Silver Films

Light-matter interaction at the atomic scale rules fundamental phenomena such as photoemission and lasing, while enabling basic everyday technologies, including photovoltaics and optical communications. In this context, plasmons --the collective electron oscillations in conducting materials-- are important because they allow manipulating optical fields at the nanoscale. The advent of graphene and other two-dimensional crystals has pushed plasmons down to genuinely atomic dimensions, displaying appealing properties such as a large electrical tunability. However, plasmons in these materials are either too broad or lying at low frequencies, well below the technologically relevant near-infrared regime. Here we demonstrate sharp near-infrared plasmons in lithographically-patterned wafer-scale atomically-thin silver crystalline films. Our measured optical spectra reveal narrow plasmons (quality factor $\sim4$), further supported by a low sheet resistance comparable to bulk metal in few-atomic-layer silver films down to seven Ag(111) monolayers. Good crystal quality and plasmon narrowness are obtained despite the addition of a thin passivating dielectric, which renders our samples resilient to ambient conditions. The observation of spectrally sharp and strongly confined plasmons in atomically thin silver holds great potential for electro-optical modulation and optical sensing applications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Photothermal Engineering of Graphene Plasmons

Nanoscale photothermal sources find important applications in theranostics, imaging, and catalysis. In this context, graphene offers a unique suite of optical, electrical, and thermal properties, which we exploit to show self-consistent active photothermal modulation of its nanoscale response. In particular, we predict the existence of plasmons confined to the optical landscape tailored by continuous-wave external-light pumping of homogeneous graphene. This result relies on the high electron temperatures achievable in optically pumped clean graphene while its lattice remains near ambient temperature. Our study opens a new avenue toward the active optical control of the nanophotonic response in graphene with potential application in photothermal devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2018

Efficient Electrical Detection of Mid-Infrared Graphene Plasmons at Room Temperature

Optical excitation and subsequent decay of graphene plasmons can produce a significant increase in charge-carrier temperature. An efficient method to convert this temperature elevation into a measurable electrical signal at room temperature can enable important mid-infrared applications such as thermal sensing and imaging in ubiquitous mobile devices. However, as appealing as this goal might be, it is still unrealized due to the modest thermoelectric coefficient and weak temperature-dependence of carrier transport in graphene. Here, we demonstrate mid-infrared graphene detectors consisting of arrays of plasmonic resonators interconnected by quasi one-dimensional nanoribbons. Localized barriers associated with disorder in the nanoribbons produce a dramatic temperature dependence of carrier transport, thus enabling the electrical detection of plasmon decay in the nearby graphene resonators. We further realize a device with a subwavelength footprint of 5*5 um2 operating at 12.2 um, an external responsivity of 16 mA/W, a low noise-equivalent power of 1.3 nW/Hz1/2 at room temperature, and an operational frequency potentially beyond gigahertz. Importantly, our device is fabricated using large-scale graphene and possesses a simple two-terminal geometry, representing an essential step toward the realization of on-chip graphene mid-infrared detector arrays.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Coupling-Enhanced Broadband Mid-Infrared Light Absorption in Graphene Plasmonic Nanostructures

Plasmons in graphene nanostructures show great promise for mid-infrared applications ranging from a few to tens of microns. However, mid-infrared plasmonic resonances in graphene nanostructures are usually weak and narrow-banded, limiting their potential in light manipulation and detection. Here we investigate the coupling among graphene plasmonic nanostructures and further show that by engineering the coupling, enhancement of light-graphene interaction strength and broadening of spectral width can be achieved simultaneously. Leveraging the concept of coupling, we demonstrate a hybrid 2-layer graphene nanoribbon array which shows 5 to 7% extinction within the entire 8 to 14 μm (~700 to 1250 cm-1) wavelength range, covering one of the important atmosphere "infrared transmission windows". Such coupled hybrid graphene plasmonic nanostructures may find applications in infrared sensing and free-space communications.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Efficient Electrical Control of Thin-Film Black Phosphorus Bandgap

Recently rediscovered black phosphorus is a layered semiconductor with promising electronic and photonic properties. Dynamic control of its bandgap can enable novel device applications and allow for the exploration of new physical phenomena. However, theoretical investigations and photoemission spectroscopy experiments performed on doped black phosphorus through potassium adsorption indicate that in its few-layer form, an exceedingly large electric field in the order of several volts per nanometer is required to effectively tune its bandgap, making the direct electrical control unfeasible. Here we demonstrate the tuning of bandgap in intrinsic black phosphorus using an electric field directly and reveal the unique thickness-dependent bandgap tuning properties, arising from the strong interlayer electronic-state coupling. Furthermore, leveraging a 10-nm-thick black phosphorus in which the field-induced potential difference across the film dominates over the interlayer coupling, we continuously tune its bandgap from ~300 to below 50 milli-electron volts, using a moderate displacement field up to 1.1 volts per nanometer. Such dynamic tuning of bandgap may not only extend the operational wavelength range of tunable black phosphorus photonic devices, but also pave the way for the investigation of electrically tunable topological insulators and topological nodal semimetals.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2016

Protective Molecular Passivation of Black Phosphorous

Black phosphorous (BP) is one of the most interesting layered materials, bearing promising potential for emerging electronic and optoelectronic device technologies. The crystalline structure of BP displays in-plane anisotropy in addition to the out-of-plane anisotropy characteristic to layered materials. Therefore, BP supports anisotropic optical and transport responses that can enable unique device architectures. Its thickness-dependent direct bandgap varies in the range of around 0.3-2.0 eV (from single-layer to bulk, respectively), making BP suitable to optoelectronics in a broad spectral range. With high room-temperature mobility, exceeding 1,000 cm2V-1s-1 in thin films, BP is also a very promising material for electronics. However, BP is sensitive to oxygen and humidity due to its three-fold coordinated atoms. The surface electron lone pairs are reactive and can lead to structural degradation upon exposure to air, leading to significant device performance degradation in ambient condition. Here, we report a viable solution to overcome degradation in few-layer BP by passivating the surface with self-assembled monolayers of octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) that provide long-term stability in ambient conditions. Importantly, we show that this treatment does not cause any undesired carrier doping of the bulk channel material, thanks to the emergent hierarchical interface structure. Our approach is compatible with conventional electronic materials processing technologies thus providing an immediate route toward practical applications in BP devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Black Phosphorus Mid-Infrared Photodetectors with High Gain

Recently, black phosphorus (BP) has joined the two dimensional material family as a promising candidate for photonic applications, due to its moderate bandgap, high carrier mobility, and compatibility with a diverse range of substrates. Photodetectors are probably the most explored BP photonic devices, however, their unique potential compared with other layered materials in the mid-infrared wavelength range has not been revealed. Here, we demonstrate BP mid infrared detectors at 3.39 um with high internal gain, resulting in an external responsivity of 82 A/W. Noise measurements show that such BP photodetectors are capable of sensing low intensity mid-infrared light in the picowatt range. Moreover, the high photoresponse remains effective at kilohertz modulation frequencies, because of the fast carrier dynamics arising from BPs moderate bandgap. The high photoresponse at mid infrared wavelengths and the large dynamic bandwidth, together with its unique polarization dependent response induced by low crystalline symmetry, can be coalesced to promise photonic applications such as chip-scale mid-infrared sensing and imaging at low light levels.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2016

Anisotropic Black Phosphorus Synaptic Device for Neuromorphic Applications

Synapses are functional links between neurons, through which "information" flows in the neural network. These connections vary significantly in strength, typically resulting from the intrinsic heterogeneity in their chemical and biological properties. Such heterogeneity is fundamental to the diversity of neural activities, which together with other features of the brain enables functions ranging from perception and recognition, to memory and reasoning. Realizing such heterogeneity in synaptic electronics is critical towards building artificial neural network with the potential for achieving the level of complexity in biological systems. However, such intrinsic heterogeneity has been very challenging to realize in current synaptic devices. Here, we demonstrate the first black phosphorus (BP) synaptic device, which offers intrinsic anisotropy in its synaptic characteristics directly resulting from its low crystal symmetry. The charge transfer between the 2-nm native oxide of BP and the BP channel is utilized to achieve the synaptic behavior. Key features of biological synapses such as long-term plasticity with heterogeneity, including long-term potentiation/depression and spike-timing-dependent plasticity, are mimicked. With the anisotropic BP synaptic devices, we also realize a simple compact heterogeneous axon-multi-synapses network. This demonstration represents an important step towards introducing intrinsic heterogeneity to artificial neuromorphic systems.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Black Arsenic-Phosphorus: Layered Anisotropic Infrared Semiconductors with Highly Tunable Compositions and Properties

Two-dimensional (2D) layered materials with diverse properties have attracted significant interest in the past decade. The layered materials discovered so far have covered a wide, yet discontinuous electromagnetic spectral range from semimetallic graphene, insulating boron nitride, to semiconductors with bandgaps from middle infrared to visible light. Here, we introduce new layered semiconductors, black arsenic-phosphorus (b-AsP), with highly tunable chemical compositions and electronic and optical properties. Transport and infrared absorption studies demonstrate the semiconducting nature of b-AsP with tunable bandgaps, ranging from 0.3 to 0.15 eV. These bandgaps fall into long-wavelength infrared (LWIR) regime and cannot be readily reached by other layered materials. Moreover, polarization-resolved infrared absorption and Raman studies reveal in-plane anisotropic properties of b-AsP. This family of layered b-AsP materials extend the electromagnetic spectra covered by 2D layered materials to the LWIR regime, and may find unique applications for future all 2D layered material based devices.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2015

Interlayer Interactions in Anisotropic Atomically-thin Rhenium Diselenide

Recently, two-dimensional (2D) materials with strong in-plane anisotropic properties such as black phosphorus have demonstrated great potential for developing new devices that can take advantage of its reduced lattice symmetry with potential applications in electronics, optoelectronics and thermoelectrics. However, the selection of 2D material with strong in-plane anisotropy has so far been very limited and only sporadic studies have been devoted to transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDC) materials with reduced lattice symmetry, which is yet to convey the full picture of their optical and phonon properties, and the anisotropy in their interlayer interactions. Here, we study the anisotropic interlayer interactions in an important TMDC 2D material with reduced in-plane symmetry - atomically thin rhenium diselenide (ReSe2) - by investigating its ultralow frequency interlayer phonon vibration modes, the layer dependent optical bandgap, and the anisotropic photoluminescence (PL) spectra for the first time. The ultralow frequency interlayer Raman spectra combined with the first study of polarization-resolved high frequency Raman spectra in mono- and bi-layer ReSe2 allows deterministic identification of its layer number and crystal orientation. PL measurements show anisotropic optical emission intensity with bandgap increasing from 1.26 eV in the bulk to 1.32 eV in monolayer, consistent with the theoretical results based on first-principle calculations. The study of the layer-number dependence of the Raman modes and the PL spectra reveals the relatively weak van der Waals interaction and 2D quantum confinement in atomically-thin ReSe2.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗