Two-dimensional hybrid plasmonic materials

An everlasting challenge faced by many plasmonic materials and devices is the unavoidable presence of loss. In addition to using dielectric media to construct plasmonic structures, another approach to overcome loss is to employ active plasmonic materials. These are typically achieved by placing a layer of an active semiconductor or emitters (e.g., quantum dots or molecules) adjacent to plasmonic nanostructures. The emergence of van der Waals (vdW) materials, such as transition metal dichalcogenides (TMD), provides an ideal class of semiconductors for such purposes. Because of the weak force binding the layers to the substrate, vdW materials can be readily transferred to different substrates. Moreover, thanks to the pristine interfaces and ultrathin thickness, the energy transfer between these active semiconductor layers and the passive plasmonic components can occur with high efficiency.