Photocurrent detection of the orbital angular momentum of light

Applications that use the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light show promise for increasing the bandwidth of optical communication networks. However, direct photocurrent detection of different OAM modes has not yet been demonstrated. Most studies of current responses to electromagnetic fields have...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 368; no. 6492; pp. 763 - 767
Main Authors Ji, Zhurun, Liu, Wenjing, Krylyuk, Sergiy, Fan, Xiaopeng, Zhang, Zhifeng, Pan, Anlian, Feng, Liang, Davydov, Albert, Agarwal, Ritesh
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States The American Association for the Advancement of Science 15.05.2020
Subjects
Angular momentum
Bandwidths
Channel capacity
Communication networks
Electromagnetic fields
Information processing
Light
Light beams
Light effects
Optical communication
Photoelectric effect
Photoelectric emission
Tungsten
Winding
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Summary:Applications that use the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of light show promise for increasing the bandwidth of optical communication networks. However, direct photocurrent detection of different OAM modes has not yet been demonstrated. Most studies of current responses to electromagnetic fields have focused on optical intensity-related effects, but phase information has been lost. In this study, we designed a photodetector based on tungsten ditelluride (WTe ) with carefully fabricated electrode geometries to facilitate direct characterization of the topological charge of OAM of light. This orbital photogalvanic effect, driven by the helical phase gradient, is distinguished by a current winding around the optical beam axis with a magnitude proportional to its quantized OAM mode number. Our study provides a route to develop on-chip detection of optical OAM modes, which can enable the development of next-generation photonic circuits.
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Author contributions: Z.J. and R.A. conceived the idea and designed the experiments. Z.J. designed and fabricated devices, performed measurements, and developed the theoretical model. W.L., X.F., Z.Z., L.F., and A.P. assisted with optical measurements and provided helpful feedback. S.K. and A.D. grew the single crystals on which all optoelectronic measurements were performed. Z.J. and R.A. analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the final manuscript. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests. Data and materials availability: All data are available in the manuscript or the supplementary materials.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.aba9192