Graphene photonic crystal fibre with strong and tunable light–matter interaction

Abstract

The integration of photonic crystal fibre (PCF) with various functional materials has greatly expanded the application regimes of optical fibre1–12. The emergence of graphene (Gr) has stimulated new opportunities when combined with PCF, allowing for electrical tunability, a broadband optical response and all-fibre integration ability13–18. However, previous demonstrations have typically been limited to micrometre-sized samples, far behind the requirements of real applications at the metre-scale level. Here, we demonstrate a new hybrid material, Gr–PCF, with length up to half a metre, produced using a chemical vapour deposition method. The Gr–PCF shows a strong light–matter interaction with ~8 dB cm−1 attenuation. In addition, the Gr–PCF-based electro-optic modulator demonstrates a broadband response (1,150–1,600 nm) and large modulation depth (~20 dB cm−1 at 1,550 nm) under a low gate voltage of ~2 V. Our results could enable industrial-level graphene applications based on this Gr–PCF and suggest an attractive platform for two-dimensional material-PCF. A hybrid material based on uniform graphene on both the outer surface and inner hole walls of a photonic crystal fibre offers a strong, tunable light–matter interaction and good broadband electro-optic modulation performance under low gate voltage.