Graphene‐like two‐dimensional materials (graphene, transition‐metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs)) have received extraordinary attention owing to their rich physics and potential applications in building nanoelectronic and nanophotonic devices. Recent works have concentrated on increasing the responsivity and extending the operation range to longer wavelengths. However, the weak absorption of gapless graphene, and the large bandgap (>1 eV) and low mobility in TMDCs have limited their spectral usage to only a narrow range in the visible spectrum. In this work, we demonstrate for the first time a high‐performance, antenna‐integrated, black phosphorus (BP)‐based photoconductor with ultra‐broadband detection from the infrared to terahertz frequencies. The good trade‐off between the moderate bandgap and good mobility results in a broad spectral absorption that is superior to that of graphene. Different photoconductive mechanisms, such as photothermoelectric (PTE), bolometric, and electron–hole generation can be distinguished depending on the device geometry, incident wavelength, and power. Especially, the photoconductive response remains highly efficient, even when the photon energy is extended to the terahertz (THz) band at room temperature, which is driven by the thermoelectric‐induced well. The proposed photodetectors have a superior performance with an excellent sensitivity of over 300 V W−1, low noise equivalent power (NEP) (smaller than 1 nW Hz−0.5 (10 pW Hz−0.5) with respect to the incident (absorbed) power), and fast response, all of which play key roles in multispectral biological imaging, remote sensing, and optical communications.

Structured plasmonic metamaterials offer a new way to design functionalized optical and electrical components, since they can be size-scaled for operation across the whole electromagnetic spectrum. Here, we theoretically investigated electrical active split ring resonators based on graphene metamaterials on a SiO2/Si substrate that shows tunable frequency and amplitude modulation. For the symmetrical structure, the modulation depth of the frequency and amplitude can reach 58.58% and 99.35%, and 59.53% and 97.7% respectively in the two crossed-polarization orientations. Once asymmetry is introduced in the structure, the higher order mode which is inaccessible in the symmetrical structure can be excited, and a strong interaction among the modes in the split ring resonator forms a transparency window in the absorption band of the dipole resonance. Such metamaterials could facilitate the design of active modulation, and slow light effect for terahertz waves. Potential outcomes such as higher sensing abilities and higher-Q resonances at terahertz frequencies are demonstrated through numerical simulations with realistic parameters.

Synaptic device is an important component in artificial neural networks. Electrically‐controlled long‐term depression (LTD) is demonstrated in three‐terminal photonic synaptic devices, which is useful for improving the efficiency of artificial neural networks. The mechanism of the three‐terminal photonic synaptic device is similar to that of the photo‐induced doping effect. Photo‐assisted carrier transport and recombination are expected to accelerate the LTD process. However, the effects of photon illumination on LTD are not investigated. Here, the effects of electrical stimulation and photo‐stimulation on the long‐term plasticity (LTP) and LTD process of photonic synaptic devices based on MoS2/h‐BN field‐effect transistors (FETs) are systemically investigated. The influences of gate dielectric layer on the photo‐induced doping are explored. The non‐volatile and electrically‐erasable properties of photo‐induced doping in MoS2/h‐BN FETs are due to the van der Waals energy barrier at the MoS2/h‐BN interface. The synaptic functions of LTP and LTD can be mimicked by the photo‐induced doping effect. The LTD process will be accelerated with the applications of positive gate voltage and laser illumination, which improves the speed of information processing. These results presented in this paper are useful for realizing high‐performance synaptic devices based on the photo‐induced doping effect.

Terahertz (THz) technology is becoming a spotlight of scientific interest due to its promising myriad applications including imaging, spectroscopy, industry control and communication. However, one of the major bottlenecks for advancing this field is due to lack of well-developed solid-state sources and detectors operating at THz gap which serves to mark the boundary between electronics and photonics. Here, we demonstrate exceptionally wide tunable terahertz plasma-wave excitation can be realized in the channel of micrometer-level graphene field effect transistors (FET). Owing to the intrinsic high propagation velocity of plasma waves (>~108 cm/s) and Dirac band structure, the plasma-wave graphene-FETs yield promising prospects for fast sensing, THz detection, etc. The results indicate that the multiple guide-wave resonances in the graphene sheets can lead to the deep sub-wavelength confinement of terahertz wave and with Q-factor orders of magnitude higher than that of conventional 2DEG system at room temperature. Rooted in this understanding, the performance trade-off among signal attenuation, broadband operation, on-chip integrability can be avoided in future THz smart photonic network system by merging photonics and electronics. The unique properties presented can open up the exciting routes to compact solid state tunable THz detectors, filters, and wide band subwavelength imaging based on the graphene-FETs.

We applied the harmonic oscillator model combined with the transfer matrix method to study the polarization conversion for transmitted waves in metallic grating/plasmon-excitation layer/metallic grating structure in the terahertz (THz) region. By comparing the calculated spectra and the simulated (by the finite-difference-time-domain method) ones, we found that they correspond well with each other. Both methods show that the Drude background absorption and the excited plasmon resonances are responsible for polarization conversion. The transmission is close to 0 when the distance between the top/bottom metallic gratings and gated graphene is an integer multiple of half the wavelength of the incident wave (in the dielectrics), at which points the plasmon resonances are greatly suppressed by the destructive interference between the backward/forward electromagnetic waves and that reflected by the top/bottom metallic gratings. Away from these points, the transmission can be higher than 80%. The electron density and the excitation efficiency of the plasmon-excitation layer were found to be important for the bandwidth of the polarization conversion window, while the scattering rate was found to influence mainly the polarization conversion rate. Multi-broadband polarization conversion is realized by exciting plasmon modes between the 0 transmission points in the THz region.

The ability to manipulate plasma waves in the two-dimensional-(2D)-electron-gas based plasmonic crystals is investigated in this work. It is demonstrated that the plasmon resonance of 2D plasmonic crystal can be tuned easily at terahertz frequency due to the wavevector quantization induced by the size effect. After calculating self-consistently by taking into account several potential mechanisms for the resonant damping of plasma waves, it can be concluded that the plasmon-plasmon scattering plays the dominant role. Based on the calculations, we can predict the scattering or inter-excitation among the oblique plasmons in the 2D crystal. The results can be extended to study 2D-electron-gas plasmonic waveguides, terahertz modulators, and detectors with electrostatic gating.

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An Otto-like configuration for the excitation of graphene surface plasmon polaritons (GSPPs) is proposed. The configuration is composed of a metallic grating-dielectric-waveguide structure and a monolayer graphene with a subwavelength vacuum gap between them. The evanescent field located at the bottom surface of the dielectric waveguide corresponding to grating-coupled guided-mode resonances (GMRs) is utilized to efficiently excite the highly confined GSPPs. The finite difference time domain method is used to investigate the behaviors of the GMR-GSPP hybrid modes. The dispersion relations of GMRs and GSPPs are calculated and the numerical results further identify the excitation of GMR-GSPP hybrid modes. By changing the gap between the graphene layer and the bottom of the dielectric waveguide and the Fermi energy of graphene, the resonant frequencies of GMR-GSPP hybrid modes can be continuously tuned. When the optimized excitation condition is satisfied, the maximum energy enhancement factor in the gap can reach about 500 at the resonant frequencies. The proposed structure can be used to realize highly sensitive, compatible with planar fabrication technology, and electrically (mechanically) tunable sensors.