No Arabic abstract
Vertical heterostructures of van der Waals materials enable new pathways to tune charge and energy transport characteristics in nanoscale systems. We propose that graphene Schottky junctions can host a special kind of photoresponse which is characterized by strongly coupled heat and charge flows that run vertically out of the graphene plane. This regime can be accessed when vertical energy transport mediated by thermionic emission of hot carriers overwhelms electron-lattice cooling as well as lateral diffusive energy transport. As such, the power pumped into the system is efficiently extracted across the entire graphene active area via thermionic emission of hot carriers into a semiconductor material. Experimental signatures of this regime include a large and tunable internal responsivity ${cal R}$ with a non-monotonic temperature dependence. In particular, ${cal R}$ peaks at electronic temperatures on the order of the Schottky potential $phi$ and has a large upper limit ${cal R} le e/phi$ ($e/phi=10,{rm A/W}$ when $phi = 100,{rm meV}$). Our proposal opens up new approaches for engineering the photoresponse in optically-active graphene heterostructures.
When the Fermi level matches the Dirac point in graphene, the reduced charge screening can dramatically enhance electron-electron (e-e) scattering to produce a strongly interacting Dirac liquid. While the dominance of e-e scattering already leads to novel behaviors, such as electron hydrodynamic flow, further exotic phenomena have been predicted to arise specifically from the unique kinematics of e-e scattering in massless Dirac systems. Here, we use optoelectronic probes, which are highly sensitive to the kinematics of electron scattering, to uncover a giant intrinsic photocurrent response in pristine graphene. This photocurrent emerges exclusively at the charge neutrality point and vanishes abruptly at non-zero charge densities. Moreover, it is observed at places with broken reflection symmetry, and it is selectively enhanced at free graphene edges with sharp bends. Our findings reveal that the photocurrent relaxation is strongly suppressed by a drastic change of fast photocarrier kinematics in graphene when its Fermi level matches the Dirac point. The emergence of robust photocurrents in neutral Dirac materials promises new energy-harvesting functionalities and highlights intriguing electron dynamics in the optoelectronic response of Dirac fluids.
The photoresponse of graphene at mid-infrared frequencies is of high technological interest and is governed by fundamentally different underlying physics than the photoresponse at visible frequencies, as the energy of the photons and substrate phonons involved have comparable energies. Here we perform a spectrally resolved study of the graphene photoresponse for mid-infrared light by measuring spatially resolved photocurrent over a broad frequency range (1000-1600 cm$^{-1}$). We unveil the different mechanisms that give rise to photocurrent generation in graphene on a polar substrate. In particular, we find an enhancement of the photoresponse when the light excites bulk or surface phonons of the SiO$_2$ substrate. This work paves the way for the development of graphene-based mid-infrared thermal sensing technology.
We study photodetection in graphene near a local electrostatic gate, which enables active control of the potential landscape and carrier polarity. We find that a strong photoresponse only appears when and where a p-n junction is formed, allowing on-off control of photodetection. Photocurrents generated near p-n junctions do not require biasing and can be realized using submicron gates. Locally modulated photoresponse enables a new range of applications for graphene-based photodetectors including, for example, pixilated infrared imaging with control of response on subwavelength dimensions.
Atomically thin two dimensional (2D) materials are promising candidates for miniaturized high-performance optoelectronic devices. Here, we report on multilayer MoTe2 photodetectors contacted with asymmetric electrodes based on n- and p-type graphene layers. The asymmetry in the graphene contacts creates a large (Ebi ~100 kV cm-1) built-in electric field across the short (l = 15 nm) MoTe2 channel, causing a high and broad (400 to 1400 nm) photoresponse even without any externally applied voltage. Spatially resolved photovoltage maps reveal an enhanced photoresponse and larger built-in electric field in regions of the MoTe2 layer between the two graphene contacts. Furthermore, a fast (~0.01 ms) photoresponse is achieved in both the photovoltaic and photoconductive operation modes of the junction. Our findings could be extended to other 2D materials and offer prospects for the implementation of asymmetric graphene contacts in future low-power optoelectronic applications.
We present the optoelectronic characterization of two graphene/silicon Schottky junctions, fabricated by transferring CVD-graphene on flat and nanotip-patterned n-Si substrates, respectively. We demonstrate record photo responsivity, exceeding 2.5 A/W under white light, which we attribute to the contribution of charges photogenerated in the surrounding region of the flat junction or to the internal gain by impact ionization caused by the enhanced field on the nanotips.