Broadband and Tunable Light Harvesting in Nanorippled MoS2 Ultrathin Films

Nanofabrication of flat optic silica gratings conformally layered with two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 is demonstrated over large area (cm(2)), achieving a strong amplification of the photon absorption in the active 2D layer. The anisotropic subwavelength silica gratings induce a highly ordered periodic modulation of the MoS2 layer, promoting the excitation of Guided Mode Anomalies (GMA) at the interfaces of the 2D layer. We show the capability to achieve a broadband tuning of these lattice modes from the visible (VIS) to the near-infrared (NIR) by simply tailoring the illumination conditions and/or the period of the lattice. Remarkably, we demonstrate the possibility to strongly confine resonant and nonresonant light into the 2D MoS2 layers via GMA excitation, leading to a strong absorption enhancement as high as 240% relative to a flat continuous MoS2 film. Due to their broadband and tunable photon harvesting capabilities, these large area 2D MoS2 metastructures represent an ideal scalable platform for new generation devices in nanophotonics, photo-detection and -conversion, and quantum technologies.

Automated summary

This study demonstrates the nano-fabrication of flat optic silica gratings layered with 2D MoS2 over a large area, achieving a strong enhancement of photon absorption. By exciting Guided Mode Anomalies (GMA), resonant and nonresonant light can be strongly confined to the 2D MoS2 layers, resulting in absorption enhancement. These large area 2D MoS2 metastructures have broadband and tunable photon harvesting capabilities, making them ideal for new generation devices in nanophotonics, photo-detection, conversion, and quantum technologies.