In the 2015 review paper 'Petawatt Class Lasers Worldwide' a comprehensive overview of the current status of highpower facilities of >200 TW was presented. This was largely based on facility specifications, with some description of their uses, for instance in fundamental ultra-high-intensity interactions, secondary source generation, and inertial confinement fusion (ICF). With the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics being awarded to Professors Donna Strickland and Gerard Mourou for the development of the technique of chirped pulse amplification (CPA), which made these lasers possible, we celebrate by providing a comprehensive update of the current status of ultra-high-power lasers and demonstrate how the technology has developed. We are now in the era of multi-petawatt facilities coming online, with 100 PW lasers being proposed and even under construction. In addition to this there is a pull towards development of industrial and multidisciplinary applications, which demands much higher repetition rates, delivering high-average powers with higher efficiencies and the use of alternative wavelengths: mid-IR facilities. So apart from a comprehensive update of the current global status, we want to look at what technologies are to be deployed to get to these new regimes, and some of the critical issues facing their development.

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Petawatt and exawatt class lasers worldwide

The interest in mid-infrared technologies surrounds plenty of important optoelectronic applications ranging from optical communications, biomedical imaging to night vision cameras, and so on. Although narrow bandgap semiconductors, such as Mercury Cadmium Telluride and Indium Antimonide, and quantum superlattices based on inter-subband transitions in wide bandgap semiconductors, have been employed for mid-infrared applications, it remains a daunting challenge to search for other materials that possess suitable bandgaps in this wavelength range. Here, we demonstrate experimentally for the first time that two-dimensional (2D) atomically thin PtSe2 has a variable bandgap in the mid-infrared via layer and defect engineering. Here, we show that bilayer PtSe2 combined with defects modulation possesses strong light absorption in the mid-infrared region, and we realize a mid-infrared photoconductive detector operating in a broadband mid-infrared range. Our results pave the way for atomically thin 2D noble metal dichalcogenides to be employed in high-performance mid-infrared optoelectronic devices.

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Atomically thin noble metal dichalcogenide: a broadband mid-infrared semiconductor.

Two-dimensional (2D) materials, particularly black phosphorus (bP), have demonstrated themselves to be excellent candidates for high-performance infrared photodetectors and transistors. However, high-quality bP can be obtained only via mechanical exfoliation from high-temperature- and high-pressure-grown bulk crystals and degrades rapidly when exposed to ambient conditions. Here, we report solution-synthesized and air-stable quasi-2D tellurium (Te) nanoflakes for short-wave infrared (SWIR) photodetectors. We perform comprehensive optical characterization via polarization-resolved transmission and reflection measurements and report the absorbance and complex refractive index of Te crystals. It is found that this material is an indirect semiconductor with a band gap of 0.31 eV. From temperature-dependent electrical measurements, we confirm this band-gap value and find that 12 nm thick Te nanoflakes show high hole mobilities of 450 and 1430 cm2 V-1 s-1 at 300 and 77 K, respectively. Finally, we demonstrate that despite its indirect band gap, Te can be utilized for high-performance SWIR photodetectors by employing optical cavity substrates consisting of Au/Al2O3 to dramatically increase the absorption in the semiconductor. By changing the thickness of the Al2O3 cavity, the peak responsivity of Te photoconductors can be tuned from 1.4 μm (13 A/W) to 2.4 μm (8 A/W) with a cutoff wavelength of 3.4 μm, fully capturing the SWIR band. An optimized room-temperature specific detectivity ( D*) of 2 × 109 cm Hz1/2 W-1 is obtained at a wavelength of 1.7 μm.

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Solution-Synthesized High-Mobility Tellurium Nanoflakes for Short-Wave Infrared Photodetectors.

Infrared multispectral imaging is attracting great interest with the increasing demand for sensitive, low-cost and scalable devices that can distinguish coincident spectral information. However, the widespread use of such detectors is still limited by the high cost of epitaxial semiconductors. In contrast, the solution processability and wide spectral tunability of colloidal quantum dots (CQDs) have inspired various inexpensive, high-performance optoelectronic devices. Here, we demonstrate a two-terminal CQD dual-band detector, which provides a bias-switchable spectral response in two distinct bands. A vertical stack of two rectifying junctions in a back-to-back diode configuration is created by engineering a strong and spatially stable doping process. By controlling the bias polarity and magnitude, the detector can be rapidly switched between short-wave infrared and mid-wave infrared at modulation frequencies up to 100 kHz with D* above 1010 jones at cryogenic temperature. The detector performance is illustrated by dual-band infrared imaging and remote temperature monitoring. Colloidal quantum dot detectors, switchable between short-wave infrared and mid-wave infrared, are demonstrated.

Dual-band infrared imaging using stacked colloidal quantum dot photodiodes

This article presents a review on the current status, challenges, and potential future development opportunities for HgCdTe infrared materials and detectortechnology. A brief history of HgCdTe infrared technology is firstly summarized and discussed, leading to the conclusion that HgCdTe-based infrared detectors will continue to be a core infrared technology with expanded capabilities in the future due to a unique combination of its favourable properties. Recent progress and the current status of HgCdTe infrared technology are reviewed, including material growth,device architecture, device processing, surface passivation, and focal plane array applications. The further development of infrared applications requires that future infrared detectors have the features of lower cost, smaller pixel size, larger array format size, higher operating temperature, and multi-band detection, which presents a number of serious challenges to current HgCdTe-based infrared technology. The primary challenges include well controlled p-type doping, lower cost, larger array format size, higher operating temperature, multi-band detection, and advanced plasma dry etching. Various new concepts and technologies are proposed and discussed that have the potential to overcome the existing primary challenges that are inhibiting the development of next generation HgCdTeinfrared detectortechnology.

Progress, challenges, and opportunities for HgCdTe infrared materials and detectors

High performance long-wavelength infrared nBn photodetectors based on InAs/InAs1−xSbx type-II superlattices on GaSb substrate have been demonstrated. The photodetector's 50% cut-off wavelength was ∼10 μm at 77 K. The photodetector with a 6 μm-thick absorption region exhibited a peak responsivity of 4.47 A/W at 7.9 μm, corresponding to a quantum efficiency of 54% at −90 mV bias voltage under front-side illumination and without any anti-reflection coating. With an R × A of 119 Ω·cm2 and a dark current density of 4.4 × 10−4 A/cm2 under −90 mV applied bias at 77 K, the photodetector exhibited a specific detectivity of 2.8 × 1011 cm. Hz/W.

InAs/InAs1−xSbx type-II superlattices for high performance long wavelength infrared detection

We propose a new approach in device architecture to realize bias-selectable three-color shortwave-midwave-longwave infrared photodetectors based on InAs/GaSb/AlSb type-II superlattices. The effect of conduction band off-set and different doping levels between two absorption layers are employed to control the turn-on voltage for individual channels. The optimization of these parameters leads to a successful separation of operation regimes; we demonstrate experimentally three-color photodiodes without using additional terminal contacts. As the applied bias voltage varies, the photodiodes exhibit sequentially the behavior of three different colors, corresponding to the bandgap of three absorbers. Well defined cut-offs and high quantum efficiency in each channel are achieved. Such all-in-one devices also provide the versatility of working as single or dual-band photodetectors at high operating temperature. With this design, by retaining the simplicity in device fabrication, this demonstration opens the prospect for three-color infrared imaging.

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High performance bias-selectable three-color Short-wave/Mid-wave/Long-wave Infrared Photodetectors based on Type-II InAs/GaSb/AlSb superlattices

A high performance bias-selectable mid-/long-wavelength infrared photodetector based on InAs/InAs1−xSbx type-II superlattices on GaSb substrate has been demonstrated. The mid- and long-wavelength channels' 50% cut-off wavelengths were ∼5.1 and ∼9.5 μm at 77 K. The mid-wavelength channel exhibited a quantum efficiency of 45% at 100 mV bias voltage under front-side illumination and without any anti-reflection coating. With a dark current density of 1 × 10−7 A/cm2 under 100 mV applied bias, the mid-wavelength channel exhibited a specific detectivity of 8.2 × 1012 cm· Hz/W at 77 K. The long-wavelength channel exhibited a quantum efficiency of 40%, a dark current density of 5.7 × 10−4 A/cm2 under −150 mV applied bias at 77 K, providing a specific detectivity value of 1.64 × 1011 cm· Hz/W.

Bias-selectable dual-band mid-/long-wavelength infrared photodetectors based on InAs/InAs1−xSbx type-II superlattices

Very long wavelength infrared photodetectors based on InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattices are demonstrated on GaSb substrate. A heterostructure photodiode was grown with 50% cut-off wavelength of 14.6 μm. At 77 K, the photodiode exhibited a peak responsivity of 4.8 A/W, corresponding to a quantum efficiency of 46% at −300 mV bias voltage from front side illumination without antireflective coating. With the dark current density of 0.7 A/cm2, it provided a specific detectivity of 1.4 × 1010 Jones. The device performance was investigated as a function of operating temperature, revealing a very stable optical response and a background limited performance below 50 K.

A. M. Hoang

Papers

InAs/InAs1−xSbx type-II superlattices for high performance long wavelength infrared detection

High performance bias-selectable three-color Short-wave/Mid-wave/Long-wave Infrared Photodetectors based on Type-II InAs/GaSb/AlSb superlattices

Bias-selectable dual-band mid-/long-wavelength infrared photodetectors based on InAs/InAs1−xSbx type-II superlattices

High performance photodiodes based on InAs/InAsSb type-II superlattices for very long wavelength infrared detection

Advances in antimonide-based Type-II superlattices for infrared detection and imaging at center for quantum devices