Giant enhancement of third-harmonic generation in graphene-metal heterostructures

Graphene-insulator-metal heterostructures show three orders of magnitude enhancement of the third-harmonic generation with respect to the bare graphene case. Nonlinear nanophotonics leverages engineered nanostructures to funnel light into small volumes and intensify nonlinear optical processes with spectral and spatial control. Owing to its intrinsically large and electrically tunable nonlinear optical response, graphene is an especially promising nanomaterial for nonlinear optoelectronic applications. Here we report on exceptionally strong optical nonlinearities in graphene-insulator-metal heterostructures, which demonstrate an enhancement by three orders of magnitude in the third-harmonic signal compared with that of bare graphene. Furthermore, by increasing the graphene Fermi energy through an external gate voltage, we find that graphene plasmons mediate the optical nonlinearity and modify the third-harmonic signal. Our findings show that graphene-insulator-metal is a promising heterostructure for optically controlled and electrically tunable nano-optoelectronic components.

Automated summary

Graphene-insulator-metal heterostructures exhibit significantly enhanced optical nonlinearity, offering potential for optically controlled and electrically tunable nano-optoelectronic devices.