Quasi-BIC-governed light absorption of monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenide-based absorber and its sensing performance

Abstract

The efficiency and bandwidth of an optical absorbing material, especially for the promising two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) are critical to underpin advances in photonic and optoelectronic devices. In this work, we present a general method to manipulate the bandwidth of an absorber with high efficiency through coupling with the quasi-bound states in the continuum (quasi-BIC). We demonstrate this strategy by taking absorbing material monolayer TMDC coupled with the lossless symmetry-broken photonic crystal (PhC) slab. An optimal-efficiency TMDC-based absorber with over three orders of magnitude of bandwidth adjustment is realized, by simultaneously adjusting the structure asymmetry parameter of PhC slab and the locations of monolayer TMDC in the structure. Interestingly, the absorption bandwidth is tailored quadratically with the asymmetry parameter, which derived from the powerful physics of bound state in the continuum (BIC) in radiation engineering. Moreover, a superior-performance optical refractive index sensor is further designed. We demonstrate that our proposed method based on quasi-BIC structure can also effectively govern the sensing performance. Present work not only provides further insight into BIC physics, but also offers a promising strategy of smart engineering in active optical devices with the properties on demand.