Waveguide-Integrated van der Waals Heterostructure Mid-Infrared Photodetector with High Performance

Extending the operation wavelength of silicon photonics to the mid-infrared (mid-IR) band will significantly benefit critical application areas, including health care, astronomy, and chemical sensing. However, a major hurdle for mid-IR silicon photonics has been the lack of high-speed, high-responsivity, and low noise-equivalent power (NEP) photodetectors. Here, we demonstrate a van der Waals (vdW) heterostructure mid-IR photodetector integrated on a silicon-on-insulator (SOI) waveguide. The detector is composed of vertically stacked black phosphorus (BP)/molybdenum ditelluride (MoTe2). We measured high responsivity (up to 0.85 A/W) over a 3-4 mu m spectral range, indicating that waveguide-confined light could strongly interact with vdW heterostructures on top. In addition, the waveguide- integrated detector could be modulated at high speed (>10 MHz) and its switching performance shows excellent stability. These results, together with the noise analysis, indicate that the NEP of the detector is as low as 8.2 pW/Hz(1/2). This reported critical missing piece in the silicon photonic toolbox will enable the wide-spread adoption of mid-IR integrated photonic circuits.

Automated summary

The extension of the operation wavelength of silicon photonics to the mid-infrared band is of great importance for fields such as health care, astronomy, and chemical sensing. However, a major challenge for mid-IR silicon photonics has been the lack of high-speed, high-responsivity, and low noise-equivalent power photodetectors. In this study, researchers demonstrated a van der Waals heterostructure mid-IR photodetector integrated on a silicon-on-insulator waveguide, which exhibited high responsivity and stable switching performance.