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Germanium phosphide (GeP), a rising star of novel two-dimensional (2D) material composed of Group IV–V elements, has been extensively studied and applied in photonics thanks to its broadband optical absorption, strong light–matter interaction and flexible bandgap structure. Here, we show the strong nonlinear optical (NLO) properties of 2D GeP nanoflakes in the broadband range with open-aperture Z-scan technique to explore the performance of 2D GeP microfiber photonic devices (GMPDs) in near-infrared (near-IR) and mid-infrared (mid-IR) ultrafast photonics. Our results suggest that employing the GMPD as an optical device in an erbium-doped fiber laser (EDFL) system results in ultrashort pulses and rogue waves (RWs) at 1.55 μm. Likewise, by the incorporation of GMPD into a thulium-doped fiber laser (TDFL) system, stable ultrashort pulse operation is also achieved at 2.0 μm. We expect these findings to be an excellent GMPD that can be applied in mode-locked fiber lasers to open up new avenues for its development and application in ultrafast photonics.

Photonic computing and neuromorphic computing are attracting tremendous interests in breaking the memory wall of traditional von Neumann architecture. Photonic memristors equipped with light sensing, data storage, and information processing capabilities are important building blocks of optical neural network. In the recent years, two-dimensional materials (2DMs) have been widely investigated for photonic memristor applications, which offer additional advantages in geometry scaling and distinct applications in terms of wide detectable spectrum range and abundant structural designs. Herein, the recent progress made toward the exploitation of 2DMs beyond graphene for photonic memristors applications are reviewed, as well as their application in photonic synapse and pattern recognition. Different materials and device structures are discussed in terms of their light tuneable memory behavior and underlying resistive switching mechanism. Following the discussion and classification on the device performances and mechanisms, the challenges facing this rapidly progressing research field are discussed, and routes to realize commercially viable 2DMs photonic memristors are proposed.

The synapse is one of the fundamental elements in human brain performing functions such as learning, memorizing, and visual processing. The implementation of synaptic devices to realize neuromorphic computing and sensing tasks is a key step to artificial intelligence, which, however, has been bottlenecked by the complex circuitry and device integration. We report a high-performance charge-trapping memory synaptic device based on two-dimensional (2D) MoS2 and high-k Ta2O5–TiO2 (TTO) composite to build efficient and reliable neuromorphic system, which can be modulated by both electrical and optical stimuli. Significant and essential synaptic behaviors including short-term plasticity, long-term potentiation, and long-term depression have been emulated. Such excellent synaptic behaviors originated from the good nonvolatile memory performance due to the high density of defect states in the engineered TTO composite. The 2D synaptic device also exhibits effective switching by incident light tuning, which further enables pattern recognition with accuracy rate reaching 100%. Such experimental demonstration paves a robust way toward a multitask neuromorphic system and opens up potential applications in future artificial intelligence and sensing technology.

Recently, layered two-dimensional (2D) palladium diselenide (PdSe2), with a unique low- symmetry puckered pentagon atomic morphology, has emerged as a promising candidate for next-generation nanoelectronics and optoelectronics because of its chemical stability and extraordinary electrical properties. Moreover, PdSe2 possesses a strong thickness-dependent bandgap that varies from 0 eV for bulk to 1.3 eV for monolayer, which can further render its potential applications in optoelectronics. However, the layer-dependent optoelectronic properties of PdSe2 are still lacking up to date. Herein, we studied the optoelectronics transport characteristics of high-quality PdSe2-based photodetectors with different thicknesses. We demonstrated an enhancement of PdSe2 photodetector performance owing to the band engineering via a thickness reduction. The highest responsivity of 5.35 A/W can be achieved with an external quantum efficiency of 1250% at the wavelength of 532 nm. We attribute such high performance in photoresponsivity to the high valley convergence in the conduction band of layered PdSe2, in agreement with first-principles calculation. Our results offer new insight into the layer-dependent optoelectronic properties of PdSe2 and open new avenues in engineering next-generation 2D-based electronics and optoelectronics.

The MoS2 photodetector on different substrates stacked via van der Waals force has been explored extensively because of its great potential in optoelectronics. Here, we integrate multilayer MoS2 on monocrystalline SiC substrate though direct chemical vapor deposition. The MoS2 film on SiC substrate shows high quality and thermal stability, in which the full width at half-maximum and first-order temperature coefficient for the E2g1$E_{2g}^1$ Raman mode are 4.6 cm−1 and −0.01382 cm−1/K, respectively. The fabricated photodetector exhibits excellent performance in the UV and visible regions, including an extremely low dark current of ~1 nA at a bias of 20 V and a low noise equivalent of 10−13–10−15 W/Hz1/2. The maximum responsivity of the MoS2/SiC photodetector is 5.7 A/W with the incident light power of 4.35 μW at 365 nm (UV light). Furthermore, the maximum photoconductive gain, noise equivalent power, and normalized detectivity for the fabricated detector under 365 nm illumination are 79.8, 7.08 × 10−15 W/Hz1/2, and 3.07 × 1010 Jonesat, respectively. We thus demonstrate the possibility for integrating high-performance photodetectors array based on MoS2/SiC via direct chemical vapor growth.

The fast-developing information technology has imposed an urgent need for effective solutions to overcome the limitations of integration density in chips with smaller size but higher performance. van der Waals heterojunctions built with two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors have been widely studied due to their 2D nature, and their unique electrical and photoelectronic properties are quite attractive in realizing multifunctional devices toward multitask applications. In this work, black phosphorus (BP)/MoS2 heterojunctions have been used to build electronic devices with various functionalities. A p-n diode is achieved based on the vertically stacked BP/MoS2 heterojunction exhibiting an ideal factor of 1.59, whereas a laterally stacked BP/MoS2 heterojunction is implemented to fabricate a photodetector that shows a photodetection responsivity of 2000 mA/W at a wavelength of 1300 nm. Furthermore, a ternary inverter has been realized using a BP field-effect transistor in-series with a lateral BP/MoS2 heterojunction. Such results have unambiguously demonstrated the superiority of BP/MoS2 heterojunction in realizing multiple functionalities and have offered a new pathway for the design and engineering of future circuitry and device integration based on novel 2D semiconductors.

MoS2, as a typical representative of two-dimensional semiconductors, has been explored extensively in applications of optoelectronic devices because of its adjustable bandgap. However, to date, the performance of the fabricated photodetectors has been very sensitive to the surrounding environment owing to the large surface-to-volume ratio. In this work, we report on large-scale, high-performance monolayer MoS2 photodetectors covered with a 3-nm Al2O3 layer grown by atomic layer deposition. In comparison with the device without the Al2O3 stress liner, both the photocurrent and responsivity are improved by over 10 times under 460-nm light illumination, which is due to the tensile strain induced by the Al2O3 layer. Further characterization demonstrated state-of-the-art performance of the device with a responsivity of 16.103 A W−1, gain of 191.80, NEP of 7.96 × 10−15 W Hz−1/2, and detectivity of 2.73 × 1010 Jones. Meanwhile, the response rise time of the photodetector also reduced greatly because of the increased electron mobility and reduced surface defects due to the Al2O3 stress liner. Our results demonstrate the potential application of large-scale strained monolayer MoS2 photodetectors in next-generation imaging systems.