Nonlinear Few-Layer Antimonene-Based All-Optical Signal Processing: Ultrafast Optical Switching and High-Speed Wavelength Conversion

Exploration of ultrastable 2D material-based optical devices toward all-optical signal processing is attracting rising interest. As a Group-VA monoelemental 2D material, antimonene is becoming a promising nonlinear optical material owing to its outstanding optoelectronic advantages with long-term stability. Herein, all-optical signal processing based on the high optical nonlinearity of antimonene is first demonstrated. Few-layer antimonene is fabricated and decorated on the microfiber as an optical device. The device can be applied as an all-optical Kerr switcher with an extinction ratio as high as approximate to 12 dB and wavelength conversion of modulated high-speed signals at a frequency up to 18 GHz. The findings indicate that such a few-layer antimonene-based photonics device is applicable in nonlinear optics, which can be potentially developed for the applications of next-generation high-speed optical communication.