Highly In-Plane Anisotropic 2D GeAs2 for Polarization-Sensitive Photodetection

Abstract

Due to the intriguing anisotropic optical and electrical properties, low-symmetry 2D materials are attracting a lot of interest both for fundamental studies and fabricating novel electronic and optoelectronic devices. Identifying new promising low-symmetry 2D materials will be rewarding toward the evolution of nanoelectronics and nano-optoelectronics. In this work, germanium diarsenide (GeAs₂ ), a group IV-V semiconductor with novel low-symmetry puckered structure, is introduced as a favorable highly anisotropic 2D material into the rapidly growing 2D family. The structural, vibrational, electrical, and optical in-plane anisotropy of GeAs₂ is systematically investigated both theoretically and experimentally, combined with thickness-dependent studies. Polarization-sensitive photodetectors based on few-layer GeAs₂ exhibit highly anisotropic photodetection behavior with lineally dichroic ratio up to ≈2. This work on GeAs₂ will excite interests in the less exploited regime of group IV-V compounds.

Keywords: 2D; GeAs2; anisotropy; photodetectors; polarization.