Chip engineers are excited by recent research into a new material that makes dark semiconductors glow when activated by a laser.
The work by physicists at the University of Oldenberg is viewed as perhaps a significant first step in manipulating the physical characteristics of matter using light fields, wrote Jalal Baherli, co-chair of Williams Advanced Engineering, in a post on LinkedIn.
It has the potential to enhance optical capabilities of semiconductors to improve LEDs, solar cells and other products.
The researchers were able to change the energy levels in an ultra-thin sample of an unusual semiconductor material known as tungsten diselenide (WSe2). They used a sample of a single crystalline layer of tungsten and selenium atoms for their work, often referred to as kind of quantum or 2D material.
The tungsten diselenide was placed between two specially created mirrors and then excited with a laser. With that technique, they could energize electrons and light particles known as photons.
“Via this coupling, the structure of the electronic transitions can be rearranged such that a dark material effectively behaves like a bright one,” said Christian Schneider, a physicist at Oldenburg, in a statement.
“The effect in our experiment is so strong that the lower state of tungsten diselenide becomes optically active.”
The research appeared in Nature Communications.
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