Description du projet
Le graphène pourrait émettre une lumière laser dans la gamme des térahertz
Le rayonnement térahertz a le potentiel de favoriser des innovations en médecine, en biologie, en science des matériaux et en télécommunications, mais son déploiement est freiné par un manque de puissantes sources compactes. Il n’existe par exemple aucun matériau avec une bande interdite suffisamment petite pour pouvoir développer des lasers à semi-conducteurs émettant dans le domaine des fréquences térahertz. Le projet LEON, financé par l’UE, entend combler cette lacune scientifique et technologique en mettant au point de nouveaux lasers à semi-conducteurs intégrant des matériaux à base de graphène. Le graphène est un excellent candidat potentiel pour les lasers à térahertz en raison de sa bande interdite «nulle». Pour supprimer les mécanismes de recombinaison non radiative qui pourraient limiter considérablement la faisabilité d’un laser térahertz, le projet exploite les états électroniques discrets des points quantiques du graphène.
Objectif
The ambition of this project is to open new horizons in the field of graphene-based devices for THz technology. The major objective is to develop compact THz amplifiers and lasers operating at room temperature, analogous to the concept of semiconductor lasers in the visible and telecom wavelength range.
THz radiation is extremely attractive for fundamental investigations of matter and emerging applications including, for example, security screening, medical imaging and spectroscopy. However, the THz spectral range remains one of the least exploited spectral regions, mainly due to the lack of compact powerful sources. The development of the typical semiconductor-laser scheme emitting at THz frequencies has been seriously hampered by the absence of an appropriate material with a sufficiently small bandgap. The LEON project addresses this technological and scientific blocking point with new semiconductor-laser schemes for THz emission centered on the integration of graphene-based materials.
Indeed, graphene is potentially an excellent candidate for a THz semiconductor-laser model owing to its ‘zero’ bandgap. However, non-radiative recombination mechanisms, especially Auger recombination, reduce the lifetime of the optical gain to few hundreds of femtoseconds. This phenomenon drastically limits the feasibility of a THz laser. In order to suppress these detrimental non-radiative processes, a new concept is needed. The project proposes to exploit the full discretization of electronic states in graphene quantum dots. This high-risk high-gain project will provide important and far-reaching scientific advances, which cannot be achieved with the current state-of-the-art approaches.
This project has three major cornerstones: i) the demonstration of THz amplifiers based on graphene quantum dots, ii) the demonstration of THz lasers based on graphene quantum dots in a microcavity, iii) the exploitation of these THz amplifiers/lasers for security and communication applications.
Champ scientifique
- engineering and technologynanotechnologynano-materialstwo-dimensional nanostructuresgraphene
- natural sciencesphysical scienceselectromagnetism and electronicssemiconductivity
- engineering and technologymedical engineeringdiagnostic imaging
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticslaser physics
- natural sciencesphysical sciencesopticsspectroscopy
Programme(s)
Régime de financement
ERC-COG - Consolidator GrantInstitution d’accueil
75794 Paris
France