Broadband optical modulators based on graphene supercapacitors

Polat, E. O. and Kocabas, C. (2013) Broadband optical modulators based on graphene supercapacitors. Nano Letters, 13(12), pp. 5851-5857. (doi: 10.1021/nl402616t) (PMID:24215484)

Abstract

Optical modulators are commonly used in communication and information technology to control intensity, phase or polarization of light. Electro-optic, electroabsorption and acousto-optic modulators based on semiconductors and compound semiconductors have been used to control the intensity of light. Due to gate tunable optical properties, graphene introduces new potentials for optical modulators. The operation wavelength of graphene based modulators, however, is limited to infrared wavelengths due to inefficient gating schemes. Here, we report a broadband optical modulator based on graphene supercapacitors formed by graphene electrodes and electrolyte medium. The transparent supercapacitor structure allows us to modulate optical transmission over a broad range of wavelengths from 450 nm to 2 µm under ambient conditions. We also provide various device geometries including multilayer graphene electrodes and reflection type device geometries that provides modulation of 35%. The graphene supercapacitor structure together with the high modulation efficiency can enable various active devices ranging from plasmonics to optoelectronics.

• Item Type: Articles (Letter)
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Polat, Dr Emre Ozan
• Authors: Polat, E. O., and Kocabas, C.
• Subjects: Q Science > QC Physics
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: Nano Letters
• Publisher: American Chemical Society
• ISSN: 1530-6984
• ISSN (Online): 1530-6992