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Silicon Mie resonators for highly directional light emission from monolayer MoS2

Nature Photonics volume 12, pages 284–290 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Controlling light emission from quantum emitters has important applications, ranging from solid-state lighting and displays to nanoscale single-photon sources. Optical antennas have emerged as promising tools to achieve such control right at the location of the emitter, without the need for bulky, external optics. Semiconductor nanoantennas are particularly practical for this purpose because simple geometries such as wires and spheres support multiple, degenerate optical resonances. Here, we start by modifying Mie scattering theory developed for plane wave illumination to describe scattering of dipole emission. We then use this theory and experiments to demonstrate several pathways to achieve control over the directionality, polarization state and spectral emission that rely on a coherent coupling of an emitting dipole to optical resonances of a silicon nanowire. A forward-to-backward ratio of 20 was demonstrated for the electric dipole emission at 680 nm from a monolayer MoS2 by optically coupling it to a silicon nanowire.

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Fig. 1: Scattering behaviour of a silicon nanowire under plane wave and dipole excitations.
Fig. 2: Experimental demonstration of highly directional emission in fluorescence images.
Fig. 3: Analysis of directionality mechanisms and experimental demonstration of the second mechanism.
Fig. 4: Spectral control over the emission wavelength with nanowire size.

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Acknowledgements

This research was conducted with the support of the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Quantum Metaphotonics and Metamaterials MURI (AFOSR Award FA9550-12-1-0488) and a Stanford Electrical Engineering Departmental Fellowship. S.R. is supported by a research grant (VKR023371) from VILLUM FONDEN. A.G.C. is supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geballe Laboratory for Advanced Materials, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

    Ahmet Fatih Cihan, Alberto G. Curto, Søren Raza, Pieter G. Kik & Mark L. Brongersma

  2. Department of Applied Physics and Institute for Photonic Integration, Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

    Alberto G. Curto

  3. CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

    Pieter G. Kik

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Contributions

A.F.C. and M.L.B. conceived the idea. A.F.C., A.G.C. and M.L.B. designed the experiments. A.F.C. prepared the samples and carried out the experiments. S.R. conducted the theoretical calculations. A.F.C. conducted full-field simulations. P.G.K. provided guidance during the simulations and experiments. All authors analysed and discussed the results and were involved in writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Mark L. Brongersma.

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Cihan, A.F., Curto, A.G., Raza, S. et al. Silicon Mie resonators for highly directional light emission from monolayer MoS2. Nature Photon 12, 284–290 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-018-0155-y

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