No Arabic abstract
Uncooled Terahertz (THz) photodetectors (PDs) showing fast (ps) response and high sensitivity (noise equivalent power (NEP) < $nWHz^{-1/2}$) over a broad (0.5THz-10THz) frequency range are needed for applications in high-resolution spectroscopy (relative accuracy ~ $10^{-11}$), metrology, quantum information, security, imaging, optical communications. However, present THz receivers cannot provide the required balance between sensitivity, speed, operation temperature and frequency range. Here, we demonstrate an uncooled THz PD combining the low (~2000 $k_{B}{mu}m^{-2}$) electronic specific heat of high mobility (> 50000 $cm^{2}V^{-1}s^{-1}$) hBN-encapsulated graphene with the asymmetric field-enhancement produced by a bow-tie antenna resonating at 3 THz. This produces a strong photo-thermoelectric conversion, which simultaneously leads to a combination of high sensitivity (NEP $leq$ 160 $pWHz^{-1/2}$), fast response time ($leq 3.3 ns$) and a four orders of magnitude dynamic range, making our devices the fastest, broadband, low noise, room temperature THz PD to date.
We report on experimental studies of terahertz (THz) radiation transmission through grating-gate graphene-channel transistor nanostructures and demonstrate room temperature THz radiation amplification stimulated by current-driven plasmon excitations. Specifically, with increase of the direct current (dc) under periodic charge density modulation, we observe a strong red shift of the resonant THz plasmon absorption, its complete bleaching, followed by the amplification and blue shift of the resonant plasmon frequency. Our results are, to the best of our knowledge, the first experimental observation of energy transfer from dc current to plasmons leading to THz amplification. We present a simple model allowing for the phenomenological description of the observed amplification phenomena. This model shows that in the presence of dc current the radiation-induced correction to dissipation is sensitive to the phase shift between THz oscillations of carrier density and drift velocity, and with increase of the current becomes negative, leading to amplification. The experimental results of this work as all obtained at room temperature, pave the way towards the new 2D plasmons based, voltage tuneable THz radiation amplifiers.
Devices made from graphene encapsulated in hexagonal boron-nitride exhibit pronounced negative bend resistance and an anomalous Hall effect, which are a direct consequence of room-temperature ballistic transport on a micrometer scale for a wide range of carrier concentrations. The encapsulation makes graphene practically insusceptible to the ambient atmosphere and, simultaneously, allows the use of boron nitride as an ultrathin top gate dielectric.
Methods of optical dynamic nuclear polarization (DNP) open the door to the replenishable hyperpolarization of nuclear spins, boosting their NMR/MRI signature by orders of magnitude. Nanodiamond powder rich in negatively charged Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) defect centers has recently emerged as one such promising platform, wherein 13C nuclei can be hyperpolarized through the optically pumped defects completely at room temperature and at low magnetic fields. Given the compelling possibility of relaying this 13C polarization to nuclei in external liquids, there is an urgent need for the engineered production of highly hyperpolarizable diamond particles. In this paper, we report on a systematic study of various material dimensions affecting optical 13C hyperpolarization in diamond particles -- especially electron irradiation and annealing conditions that drive NV center formation. We discover surprisingly that diamond annealing at elevated temperatures close to 1720C have remarkable effects on the hyperpolarization levels, enhancing them by upto 36-fold over materials annealed through conventional means. We unravel the intriguing material origins of these gains, and demonstrate they arise from a simultaneous improvement in NV electron relaxation time and coherence time, as well as the reduction of paramagnetic content, and an increase in 13C relaxation lifetimes. Overall this points to significant recovery of the diamond lattice from radiation damage as a result of the high-temperature annealing. Our work suggests methods for the guided materials production of fluorescent, 13C hyperpolarized, nanodiamonds and pathways for their use as multi-modal (optical and MRI) imaging and hyperpolarization agents.
To explore the potential of field-effect transistors (FETs) based on monolayers of the two-dimensional semiconducting channel(SC) for spintronics, the two most important issues are to ensure the formation of variable low resistive tunnel ferromagnetic contacts(FC), and to preserve intrinsic properties of the SC during fabrication. Large Schottky barriers lead to the formation of high resistive contacts and methods adopted to control the barriers often alter the intrinsic properties of the SC. This work aims at addressing both issues in fully encapsulated monolayer WSe$_2$ FETs by using bi-layer h-BN as a tunnel barrier at the FC/SC interface. We investigate the electrical transport in monolayer WSe$_2$ FETs with current-in-plane geometry that yields hole mobilities $sim$ 38.3 $cm^{2}V^{-1}s^{-1}$ at 240 K and On/Off ratios of the order of 10$^7$, limited by the contact regions. We have achieved ultralow effective Schottky barrier ($sim$ 5.34 meV) with encapsulated tunneling device as opposed to a non-encapsulated device in which the barrier heights are considerably higher. These observations provide an insight into the electrical behavior of the FC/h-BN/SC/h-BN heterostructures and such control over the barrier heights opens up the possibilities for WSe$_2$-based spintronic devices.
Graphene is ideally suited for photonic and optoelectronic applications, with a variety of photodetectors (PDs) in the visible, near-infrared (NIR), and THz reported to date, as well as thermal detectors in the mid-infrared (MIR). Here, we present a room temperature-MIR-PD where the pyroelectric response of a LiNbO3 crystal is transduced with high gain (up to 200) into resistivity modulation for graphene, leading to a temperature coefficient of resistance up to 900%/K, two orders of magnitude higher than the state of the art, for a device area of 300x300um2. This is achieved by fabricating a floating metallic structure that concentrates the charge generated by the pyroelectric substrate on the top-gate capacitor of the graphene channel. This allows us to resolve temperature variations down to 15umK at 1 Hz, paving the way for a new generation of detectors for MIR imaging and spectroscopy