Abstract
Electrical modulation of nonlinear optical signals is crucial for emerging applications in communications and photonic circuits. However, current methods of modulating the second-order optical susceptibility involve indirectly and inefficiently changing the third-order susceptibility. Here we show that electrical switching of the crystal structure of monolayer molybdenum ditelluride can be used to directly modulate the second-order susceptibility. This approach leads to modulation of the second-harmonic generation with an on/off ratio of 1,000 and modulation strength of 30,000% per volt, as well as broadband operation of 300 nm. We also show that molybdenum ditelluride bilayers exhibit opposite modulation trends due to electrically induced heterostructures.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work is supported by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (award no. 5722) and the Ernest S. Kuh Endowed Chair Professorship.
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Y.W. and X.Z. initiated the research and designed the experiments. Y.W. and J.X. performed the SHG measurements. Y.W. and T.-F.C. fabricated the devices. Y.W. J.X., Z.N. and S.Y. analysed the data with X.Z. All the authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript.
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Peer review information Nature Electronics thanks Ueli Koch, Zheng Liu and Shuang Zhang for their contribution to the peer review of this work.
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Wang, Y., Xiao, J., Chung, TF. et al. Direct electrical modulation of second-order optical susceptibility via phase transitions. Nat Electron 4, 725–730 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00655-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-021-00655-0
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