The nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of the van der Waals bilayer heterostructures composed of graphene/h-BN and graphene/phosphorene nanoflakes are investigated using time-dependent density functional theory. Our calculated results show a significant enhancement of the first-hyperpolarizability value, β in heterostructures relative to the pristine nanoflakes at λ<b>=</b>1064 nm. The calculated enhancement in optical nonlinearity mainly results from in-plane anisotropy induced by interlayer electronic coupling between the adjacent nanoflake layers; a higher degree of anisotropy is induced by puckered phosphorene compared to atomically flat h-BN yielding χ<sup>(2) </sup>value corresponding to the second harmonic generation of ~50 pm/V in the zigzag graphene/phosphorene bilayer heterostructure. The calculated results clearly show that graphene-based nanoflake heterostructures giving large NLO coefficients together with high electron mobility of these materials offer new opportunities as candidate materials of choice for next-generation photonics and integrated quantum technologies.

Enhanced nonlinear optical response of graphene-based nanoflake van der Waals heterostructures

ACS Spring Meeting 2021

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.