Enhanced second-harmonic generation from two-dimensional MoSe2 on a silicon waveguide

Abstract

Two-dimensional transition-metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with intrinsically broken crystal inversion symmetry and large second-order nonlinear responses have shown great promise for future nonlinear light sources. However, the sub-nanometer monolayer thickness of such materials limits the length of their nonlinear interaction with light. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the enhancement of the second-harmonic generation from monolayer MoSe2 by its integration onto a 220-nm-thick silicon waveguide. Such on-chip integration allows for a marked increase in the interaction length between the MoSe2 and the waveguide mode, further enabling phase matching of the nonlinear process. The demonstrated TMDC–silicon photonic hybrid integration opens the door to second-order nonlinear effects within the silicon photonic platform, including efficient frequency conversion, parametric amplification and the generation of entangled photon pairs.