Nano-scale Development of Plasmonic Amplifiers Based on 2D Materials

The library of 2D materials is growing at a rapid rate driven by the potential extraordinary electronic applications that they can offer.In parallel, terahertz (THz) technologies has continued to draw a great interest due to the many applications that it can have aprofound impact in but has continuously been hindered due to the low power and wide scale applicability of current THz sourcetechnologies.

THz surface plasmonics is coming in to the forefront as an area which can bridge these two emerging technologies andallow the necessary breakthrough that is needed in the so called THz source gap region of 0.5 – 3 THz.

In this project the goal is todevelop architectures which can efficiently amplify THz waves based on surface plasmons in 2D materials.

The fundamental attributesthat underline this approach resides in the interaction between THz radiation and electrically driven surface plasmons which providesamplification through an exchange of energy and momentum limited only by the properties of the gain medium.

Thus the limits ofthe amplification are governed by limits to the electrical excitation of surface plasmons and how well these surface plasmons coupleto the THz radiation.

By utilizing novel 2D materials with extraordinary electrical properties based on Transition MetalDichalcogenides (TMDs) and Transition Metal Monochalcogenides (TMMs) as well as traditional carbon based materials such asgraphene we plan to stretch these limits and achieve ground breaking results in terms of amplification and gain by incorporating thedeveloped amplifiers into existing state-of-the-art Silicon – Germanium hetero junction bipolar(HBT) based THz arrays.

In the consortium led by THALES, leading experts from advanced research institutes, SMEs and universitieswhich specialize in growth and modelling of 2D Materials as well as THz source development and characterization have cometogether to achieve such a ground-breaking vision.