Nonlinear co-generation of graphene plasmons for optoelectronic logic operations

Yiwei Li; Ning An; Zheyi Lu; Yuchen Wang; Bing Chang; Teng Tan; Xuhan Guo; Xizhen Xu; Jun He; Handing Xia; Zhaohui Wu; Yikai Su; Yuan Liu; Yunjiang Rao; Giancarlo Soavi; Baicheng Yao

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-30901-8

Nonlinear co-generation of graphene plasmons for optoelectronic logic operations

Nat Commun. 2022 Jun 6;13(1):3138. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-30901-8.

Authors

Yiwei Li^#¹, Ning An^#¹, Zheyi Lu^#², Yuchen Wang¹, Bing Chang¹, Teng Tan^{1

3}, Xuhan Guo⁴, Xizhen Xu⁵, Jun He⁵, Handing Xia⁶, Zhaohui Wu⁶, Yikai Su⁴, Yuan Liu⁷, Yunjiang Rao^{8

9}, Giancarlo Soavi^{10

11}, Baicheng Yao¹²

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Optical Fibre Sensing and Communications (Education Ministry of China), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.
² Key Laboratory for Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Devices (Education Ministry of China), School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha, China.
³ Research Centre for Optical Fibre Sensing, Zhejiang Laboratory, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Optical Communication Systems and Networks, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai, China.
⁵ Guangdong and Hong Kong Joint Research Center for Optical Fiber Sensors, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, China.
⁶ Research Center of Laser Fusion, China Academic of Engineering Physics, 621900, Mianyang, China.
⁷ Key Laboratory for Micro-Nano Optoelectronic Devices (Education Ministry of China), School of Physics and Electronics, Hunan University, Changsha, China. yuanliuhnu@hnu.edu.cn.
⁸ Key Laboratory of Optical Fibre Sensing and Communications (Education Ministry of China), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. yjrao@uestc.edu.cn.
⁹ Research Centre for Optical Fibre Sensing, Zhejiang Laboratory, Hangzhou, China. yjrao@uestc.edu.cn.
¹⁰ Institute of Solid State Physics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany. giancarlo.soavi@uni-jena.de.
¹¹ Abbe Center of Photonics, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany. giancarlo.soavi@uni-jena.de.
¹² Key Laboratory of Optical Fibre Sensing and Communications (Education Ministry of China), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China. yaobaicheng@uestc.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Surface plasmons in graphene provide a compelling strategy for advanced photonic technologies thanks to their tight confinement, fast response and tunability. Recent advances in the field of all-optical generation of graphene's plasmons in planar waveguides offer a promising method for high-speed signal processing in nanoscale integrated optoelectronic devices. Here, we use two counter propagating frequency combs with temporally synchronized pulses to demonstrate deterministic all-optical generation and electrical control of multiple plasmon polaritons, excited via difference frequency generation (DFG). Electrical tuning of a hybrid graphene-fibre device offers a precise control over the DFG phase-matching, leading to tunable responses of the graphene's plasmons at different frequencies across a broadband (0 ~ 50 THz) and provides a powerful tool for high-speed logic operations. Our results offer insights for plasmonics on hybrid photonic devices based on layered materials and pave the way to high-speed integrated optoelectronic computing circuits.

Abstract

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