All‐optical modulation with 2D layered materials: status and prospects
Haitao Chen, Cong Wang, Hao Ouyang, Yufeng Song, Tian Jiang
Abstract
Abstract Optical modulation technique plays a crucial role in photonics technologies, and there is an ever‐increasing demand for broadband and ultrafast optical modulation in the era of artificial intelligence. All‐optical modulation is known to be able to operate in an ultrafast way and has a broadband response, showing great potential in applications for ultrafast information processing and photonic computing. Two‐dimensional (2D) materials with exotic optoelectronic properties bring tremendous new opportunities for all‐optical modulators with excellent performance, which have attracted lots of attention recently. In this review, we cover the state‐of‐art all‐optical modulation based on 2D materials, including graphene, transitional metal dichalcogenides, phosphorus, and other novel 2D materials. We present the operations mechanism of different types of all‐optical modulators with various configurations, such as fiber‐integrated and free‐space ones. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities faced by all‐optical modulation, as well as offer some future perspectives for the development of all‐optical modulation based on 2D materials.