Light-emitting diodes (LEDs) based on two-dimensional Van der Waals heterostructures for visible telecom and sensing applications

• Grant number: 22/08932-9
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Field of knowledge: Engineering - Electrical Engineering - Telecommunications
• Agreement: Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA)
• Principal Investigator: Eunezio Antonio de Souza
• Grantee: Eunezio Antonio de Souza
• Principal researcher abroad: Juan Diego Zapata Caro
• Institution abroad: Universidad de Antioquia (UdeA), Colombia
• Host Institution: Escola de Engenharia (EE). Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM). Instituto Presbiteriano Mackenzie. São Paulo , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Ana Maria Cardenas Soto ; David Steinberg ; Henrique Guimarães Rosa ; Jhon James Granada Torres ; Lúcia Akemi Miyazato Saito

Abstract

Van der Waals Heterostructures (VDWH) made by layer-by-layer deposition of two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) are the subject of intense recent research with a wide variety of optoelectronics and photonics applications. The proponent groups have extended experience in all-fiber 2D materials based on saturable absorbers. In fact, as one of the results of the previous UdeA-Mackenzie collaboration, we demonstrated perhaps the best (in terms of stability and pulse duration) graphene-based fiber soliton laser reported so far. Here, we propose the design, assembly, and characterization processes, by moving from one or few layers of graphene to a more sophisticated VDWH with other 2D materials, where the optical properties can be controlled electronically. In this project, we shall investigate compact light-emitting optoelectronic diodes (LEDs) based on semiconductor 2D VDWH that finds applications in (but not limited to) optical communication systems. The device has in common the ability of 2D materials heterostructures to generate light emission by varying the charge density (by applying a voltage signal). 2D nanomaterials have attracted significant attention due to their fascinating optical and electrical properties, especially the group of semiconductors transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), which have adjustable band structure, forward band electronic transition, high exciton energies, and strong frequency conversion properties (second and third harmonic generations) as a function of the number of layers, making them potential candidates for optoelectronic applications in the spectral regions of visible and infrared light. These materials showed a series of exciting properties being responsible for triggering intensive studies of next-generation optoelectronic devices, such as photodetectors and LEDs. For the latter application, the light emission properties, which include photoluminescence (PL) and electroluminescence (EL), can be modulated and adjusted by substrate effects, temperature, geometries, device architecture, current injection method, and electrostatic/chemical doping. This proposal can highly contribute to the 2D materials engineering of active ultra-compact high-speed transmitters (LEDs, lasers, and modulators), which are crucial elements of lightwave telecom and sensing applications. (AU)