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In recent years, the spin Hall effect of light (SHE), also called the photonic spin Hall effect has received extensive research attention, and a series of interesting results have been achieved. This phenomenon has potential applications in nanooptics, quantum information, and optoelectronic devices. In contrast to the pure photon SHE, the photonic spin Hall effect in the surface plasmonic platform exhibits unique properties due to the surface plasmon resonance effect of noble metal material and establishes the connection between photons and electrons. Therefore, the SHE of light in a surface plasmonic platform is expected to be applied to integrated optical devices to create a novel means of developing communication devices. In this paper, we review the progress on the SHE of light based on the plasmonic platform in recent years, and we discuss the future directions of research and prospects for its applications.

Colloidal perovskite quantum dots are candidate materials for solution-processable lasers, although stimulated emission in a semiconductor usually occurs in the multiexciton regime. Due to the quantum-confinement effect of semiconductor quantum dots, the non-radiative recombination transition dominates the relaxation of multiexcitons. Hence, the implementation of low-threshold stimulated emission of perovskite quantum dots in the single-exciton regime is meaningful. Herein, we show that this problem can be partially solved by employing a locally enhanced electric field. By applying the metal surface plasmon resonance energy-transfer effect, we demonstrate a considerable reduction of the optical gain threshold due to the newly generated coupling level induced by the local surface plasmon, and obtain optical gain in the single-exciton regime at room temperature in colloidal perovskite quantum dots. At the same time, we achieve a more than fourfold reduction in the amplified spontaneous emission threshold. This may provide a new concept for the further design of low-threshold stimulated emission colloidal nanocrystal lasers and even for improving their energy conversion efficiency.

Efficient interfacial light-electric interconversion in van der Waals heterostructures is critical for their optoelectronic applications. Using time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy and transient absorption spectroscopy, the charge transfer and the dynamical interlayer excitons were investigated in the heterostructures comprising monolayer WSe2 and monolayer graphene with varying stacking order on a sapphire substrate. Herein, a more comprehensive understanding of ultrafast charge transfer and exciton dynamics in two-dimensional heterostructures is shown. Owing to the effective electric field induced by the sapphire substrate, the WSe2/graphene heterostructure exhibits positive terahertz photoconductivity after photoexcitation, while negative terahertz photoconductivity is observed in the graphene/WSe2 heterostructure. The transient absorption spectra indicate that the exciton lifetimes also exhibit a considerable difference, where WSe2/graphene exhibits the longest exciton lifetime, followed by monolayer WSe2, while graphene/WSe2 exhibits the shortest lifetime. These observations provide a new idea for using van der Waals heterostructures in electronic and photonic devices.

A facile solution-phase synthesis of black γ-phase CsPbI3 nanowire clusters was developed using poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) as surfactant. PMMA was found to efficiently retard the crystal growth, thereby inducing anisotropic growth for formation of the nanowire structure, while the intermolecular hydrogen bonds of PMMA act as a driving force for self-assembly of the nanowires.

The exciton effect in two-dimensional (2D) transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) plays a dominating role in describing the optical and optoelectronic properties. However, the interplay between the excitons and free carriers has not yet been understood upon photoexcitation in 2D TMDs. Here, we first present a study of the dynamical interplay of excitons and unbound electron–hole pairs using time-resolved terahertz (THz) spectroscopy (TRTS) in a few-layer WS2 laminate. Our experimental results demonstrate that the Auger recombination is observed in the relaxation process of the mobile charge carriers rather than that of excitons upon photoexcitation. The transient complex THz photoconductivity spectroscopy of WS2 is well described by the Drude–Lorentz model of free carriers modulated by the exciton polarization field. Our results provide a comprehensive understanding of nonequilibrium carrier kinetics (both excitons and free carriers) in WS2 laminate, and should be applicable to other 2D systems.

Graphene oxide (GO) is an attractive option for large scale production of graphene. On the other hand, the graphene obtained by the reduction of GO has inevitable structural defects, and the vacant lattice sites will significantly restrict its conductivity. It has been demonstrated that thermal annealing in hydrogen is an efficient method to reduce defects and heal the lattice in GO samples. However, it is still not clear how the defects and/or disordering influence the photoelectric conversion efficiency and the carrier relaxation pathway in GO. Herein, time-domain terahertz (THz) spectroscopy is employed to characterize the properties of the multilayer GO films which were annealed in hydrogen at various temperatures. Upon photoexcitation, a transient increase of the conductivity was observed for the reduced graphene oxide (RGO) samples. The ultrafast carrier relaxation process can be well assigned to the carrier–carrier scattering and carrier–phonon coupling. Our results demonstrated that the RGO films ...

By employing the time-resolved terahertz spectroscopy, we have investigated the dynamical photoconductivity response of MoS2 laminate in nitrogen, dry air and oxygen, the photoconductivity of MoS2 is dramatically altered by the adsorption of oxygen.

Two-dimensional materials with van der Waals structure attract intense interest due to their high performance in ultrathin optoelectronic devices. In particular, the high efficiency charge separation between the two-dimensional materials can significantly improve the photo-response of a given device. Here we report the discovery of pure ultraviolet (UV) emission from few layer graphene nanosheets (GNS). Near unity charge separation efficiency is key to pure UV emission. The dynamics of an excited electron were analyzed using femtosecond transient absorption techniques. Electron transfer is observed from surface defect states induced by oxygen-containing functional groups to intrinsic sp2 domain states in few layer GNS. Moreover, a solar blind response device based on few layer GNS with a high on-off ratio was successfully fabricated.

The as-grown atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) usually have extremely large surface-to-volume ratios. Hence, the electrical and optical properties are always affected by the adsorption of atmospheric gases. By using optical pump terahertz (THz) probe spectroscopy, THz photoconductivity dynamics of chemical vapor deposition grown monolayer MoS2 has been investigated in nitrogen, air and oxygen atmospheric environments. Our study reveals that the photoconductivity of MoS2 at THz frequencies is dramatically altered by the adsorption of oxygen. The relaxation dynamics of photoconductivity strongly depends on atmospheres, which is attributed to photo-excited different quasi-particles, such as free charge carriers, excitons and trions. This study highlights the role of oxygen passivation of the photoconductivity in monolayer MoS2, which may have important applications for the design of future MoS2-based electronic devices.