There is an increasing interest in using graphene1,2 for optoelectronic applications.3−19 However, because graphene is an inherently weak optical absorber (only ≈2.3% absorption), novel concepts need to be developed to increase the absorption and take full advantage of its unique optical properties. We demonstrate that by monolithically integrating graphene with a Fabry-Pérot microcavity, the optical absorption is 26-fold enhanced, reaching values >60%. We present a graphene-based microcavity photodetector with responsivity of 21 mA/W. Our approach can be applied to a variety of other graphene devices, such as electro-absorption modulators, variable optical attenuators, or light emitters, and provides a new route to graphene photonics with the potential for applications in communications, security, sensing and spectroscopy.

The increasing demand of rapid sensing and diagnosis in remote areas requires the development of compact and cost-effective mid-infrared sensing devices. So far, all miniaturization concepts have been demonstrated with discrete optical components. Here we present a monolithically integrated sensor based on mid-infrared absorption spectroscopy. A bi-functional quantum cascade laser/detector is used, where, by changing the applied bias, the device switches between laser and detector operation. The interaction with chemicals in a liquid is resolved via a dielectric-loaded surface plasmon polariton waveguide. The thin dielectric layer enhances the confinement and enables efficient end-fire coupling from and to the laser and detector. The unamplified detector signal shows a slope of 1.8–7 μV per p.p.m., which demonstrates the capability to reach p.p.m. accuracy over a wide range of concentrations (0–60%). Without any hybrid integration or subwavelength patterning, our approach allows a straightforward and cost-saving fabrication.

Strange metal behavior is ubiquitous in correlated materials ranging from cuprate superconductors to bilayer graphene. There is increasing recognition that it arises from physics beyond the quantum fluctuations of a Landau order parameter which, in quantum critical heavy fermion antiferromagnets, may be realized as critical Kondo entanglement of spin and charge. The dynamics of the associated electronic delocalization transition could be ideally probed by optical conductivity, but experiments in the corresponding frequency and temperature ranges have remained elusive. We present terahertz time-domain transmission spectroscopy on molecular beam epitaxy-grown thin films of YbRh 2 Si 2 , a model strange metal compound. We observe frequency over temperature scaling of the optical conductivity as a hallmark of beyond-Landau quantum criticality. Our discovery implicates critical charge fluctuations as playing a central role in the strange metal behavior, thereby elucidating one of the longstanding mysteries of correlated quantum matter. arXiv:1808.02296v1 [cond-mat.str-el]

We directly measure optical bound states in the continuum (BICs) by embedding a photodetector into a photonic crystal slab. The BICs observed in our experiment are the result of accidental phase matching between incident, reflected and in-plane waves at seemingly random wave vectors in the photonic band structure. Our measurements were confirmed through a rigorously coupled-wave analysis simulation in conjunction with temporal coupled mode theory. Polarization mixing between photonic crystal slab modes was observed and described using a plane wave expansion simulation. The ability to probe the field intensity inside the photonic crystal and thereby to directly measure BICs represents a milestone in the development of integrated opto-electronic devices based on BICs.

Quantum cascade laser (QCL) frequency combs are a promising candidate for chemical sensing and biomedical diagnostics, requiring only milliseconds of acquisition time to record absorption spectra without any moving parts 1,2,3,4 . They are electrically pumped and have a small footprint, making them an ideal platform for on-chip integration 5 . Until now, optical feedback is fatal for frequency comb generation in QCLs and destroys intermodal coherence 6 . This property imposes strict limits on the possible degree of integration. Here, we demonstrate coherent injection locking of the repetition frequency to a stabilized RF oscillator. For the first time, we prove that the spectrum of the injection locked QCL can be phase-locked, resulting in the generation of a frequency comb. We show that injection locking is not only a versatile tool for all-electrical frequency stabilization, but also mitigates the fatal effect of optical feedback on the frequency comb. A prototype self-detected dualcomb setup consisting only of an injection locked dualcomb chip, a lens and a mirror demonstrates the enormous potential for on-chip dual-comb spectroscopy. These results pave the way to miniaturized and all-solid-state midinfrared spectrometers.

Broadband coherent light sources are becoming increasingly important for sensing and spectroscopic applications, especially in the mid-infrared and terahertz (THz) spectral regions, where the unique absorption characteristics of a whole host of molecules are located. The desire to miniaturize such light emitters has recently lead to spectacular advances with compact on-chip lasers that cover both of these spectral regions. The long wavelength and the small size of the sources result in a strongly diverging laser beam that is difficult to focus on the target that one aims to perform spectroscopy with. Here, we introduce an unconventional solution to this vexing problem relying on a random laser to produce coherent broadband THz radiation as well as an almost diffraction limited far-field emission profile. Our random lasers do not require any fine-tuning and thus constitute a promising example of practical device applications for random lasing.Various spectroscopic techniques rely on the specific absorption features of numerous molecules within the midinfrared and terahertz (THz) spectral regions, which allow their unambiguous identification. Although broadband coherent sources of radiation are already available within these frequency regions [1][2][3][4][5], a compact size and electrically pumped operation are additionally desired for actual applications. These criteria are fulfilled by quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), semiconductor sources which are able to provide broadband emission at mid-infrared [6,7] and THz [8,9] frequencies. However, for typically used THz QCL waveguides the output aperture is on the order of 10 µm, while the emission wavelength is about 100 µm. This, in fact, leads to a very divergent output beam, which is additionally distorted by interference effects [10,11]. Since external optical elements such as lenses or antennas are difficult to handle on a large scale [12,13], several monolithic concepts have been pursued to address this issue. To improve the far-field for facet emission, e.g., a 3rd order distributed feedback (DFB) grating can be used [14]. Another approach is to coherently emit from a large area on the laser surface. In contrast to interband semiconductor lasers, QCLs can only generate in-plane radiation due to intersubband selection rules, preventing the realization of VCSELtype resonators. Thus several concepts have been developed to couple out the in-plane cavity mode in vertical direction, including 2nd order DFB gratings [15,16] , and photonic crystal (PhC) cavities [17]. Recently, also non-periodic resonator structures such as graded photonic heterostructures [18], or quasicrystal cavities [19,20] have been developed. However, all on-chip techniques providing surface emission demonstrated so far are designed to support a single laser mode only, while for many spectroscopic applications a broadband coherent light source is necessary. To achieve the objective of a broadband and at the same time very collimated laser light emission in the THz regime, we propose here a radical ...

We increased the active region/waveguide thickness of terahertz quantum cascade lasers with semi-insulating surface plasmon waveguides by stacking two symmetric active regions on top of each other, via a direct wafer bonding technique. In this way, we enhance the generated optical power in the cavity and the mode confinement. We achieved 470 mW peak output power in pulsed mode from a single facet at a heat sink temperature of 5 K and a maximum operation temperature of 122 K. Furthermore, the devices show a broad band emission spectrum over a range of 420 GHz, centered around 3.9 THz.

Conductance quantization at room temperature is a key requirement for the utilizing of ballistic transport for, e.g., high-performance, low-power dissipating transistors operating at the upper limit of “on”-state conductance or multivalued logic gates. So far, studying conductance quantization has been restricted to high-mobility materials at ultralow temperatures and requires sophisticated nanostructure formation techniques and precise lithography for contact formation. Utilizing a thermally induced exchange reaction between single-crystalline Ge nanowires and Al pads, we achieved monolithic Al–Ge–Al NW heterostructures with ultrasmall Ge segments contacted by self-aligned quasi one-dimensional crystalline Al leads. By integration in electrostatically modulated back-gated field-effect transistors, we demonstrate the first experimental observation of room temperature quantum ballistic transport in Ge, favorable for integration in complementary metal–oxide–semiconductor platform technology.