Graphene quantum interference photodetector

Abstract

In this work, a graphene quantum interference (QI) photodetector was simulated in two regimes of operation. The structure consists of a graphene nanoribbon, Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI), which exhibits a strongly resonant transmission of electrons of specific energies. In the first regime of operation (that of a linear photodetector), low intensity light couples two resonant energy levels, resulting in scattering and differential transmission of current with an external quantum efficiency of up to 5.2%. In the second regime of operation, full current switching is caused by the phase decoherence of the current due to a strong photon flux in one or both of the interferometer arms in the same MZI structure. Graphene QI photodetectors have several distinct advantages: they are of very small size, they do not require p- and n-doped regions, and they exhibit a high external quantum efficiency.