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Chip-integrated ultrafast graphene photodetector with high responsivity

Abstract

Graphene-based photodetectors have attracted strong interest for their exceptional physical properties, which include an ultrafast response1,2,3 across a broad spectrum4, a strong electron–electron interaction5 and photocarrier multiplication6,7,8. However, the weak optical absorption of graphene2,3 limits its photoresponsivity. To address this, graphene has been integrated into nanocavities9, microcavities10 and plasmon resonators11,12, but these approaches restrict photodetection to narrow bands. Hybrid graphene–quantum dot architectures can greatly improve responsivity13, but at the cost of response speed. Here, we demonstrate a waveguide-integrated graphene photodetector that simultaneously exhibits high responsivity, high speed and broad spectral bandwidth. Using a metal-doped graphene junction coupled evanescently to the waveguide, the detector achieves a photoresponsivity exceeding 0.1 A W−1 together with a nearly uniform response between 1,450 and 1,590 nm. Under zero-bias operation, we demonstrate response rates exceeding 20 GHz and an instrumentation-limited 12 Gbit s−1 optical data link.

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Figure 1: A waveguide-integrated graphene photodetector.
Figure 2: Metal-doped junctions at the metal/graphene interfaces of the device determined by measuring a spatially resolved photocurrent on a confocal microscope set-up with top illumination.
Figure 3: Photoresponse of the waveguide-integrated graphene bilayer when excited through the waveguide.
Figure 4: Dynamic optoelectrical response of the device.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank F. Koppens for discussions. Financial support was provided by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research PECASE (supervised by G. Pomrenke), the DARPA ‘Information in a Photon’ programme (grant no. W911NF-10-1-0416) and by NSF grant DMR-1106225 (T.H.). Device fabrication was partly carried out at the Center for Functional Nanomaterials, Brookhaven National Laboratory, which is supported by the US Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (contract no. DE-AC02-98CH10886). Device assembly (including graphene transfer) and characterization was supported by the Center for Re-Defining Photovoltaic Efficiency Through Molecule Scale Control, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences (award no. DE-SC0001085). R.-J.S. was supported in part by the Center for Excitonics, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under award no. DE-SC0001088.

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Contributions

X.G., R.S., S.A. and D.E. conceived and designed the experiments. R.S., Y.G. and X.G. fabricated the devices. S.A., X.G. and D.E. designed and provided waveguide chips; J.H. provided graphene samples. X.G. and R.S. performed the experiments. I.M. and K.S. analysed the high-speed measurements. X.G., D.E. and T.H. prepared the manuscript. All authors commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Dirk Englund.

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Gan, X., Shiue, RJ., Gao, Y. et al. Chip-integrated ultrafast graphene photodetector with high responsivity. Nature Photon 7, 883–887 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2013.253

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