The mechanical exfoliation of naturally occurring layered materials has emerged as an easy and effective method for achieving ultrathin van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures with well-defined lattice orientations of the constituent two-dimensional (2D) material layers. Cylindrite is one such naturally occurring vdW heterostructure, where the superlattice is composed of alternating stacks of SnS2-like and PbS-like layers. Although the constituent 2D lattices are isotropic, inhomogeneous strain occurring from local atomic alignment for forcing the commensuration makes the cylindrite superlattice structurally anisotropic. Here, we demonstrate the highly anisotropic optical responses of cylindrite thin flakes induced by the anisotropic crystal structure, including angle-resolved polarized Raman scattering, linear dichroism, and polarization-dependent anisotropic third-harmonic generation. Our results provide a promising approach for identifying various natural vdW heterostructure-based 2D materials with tailored optical properties and can be harnessed for realizing anisotropic optical devices for on-chip photonic circuits and optical information processing.
The proliferation of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures formed by stacking layered materials can accelerate scientific and technological advances. Here, we report a strategy for constructing vdW heterostructures through the interface engineering of the exfoliation substrate using a sub-5 nm polymeric film. Our construction method has two main features that distinguish it from existing techniques. First is the consistency of its exfoliation process in increasing the yield and in producing large (>10,000 μm2) monolayer graphene. Second is the applicability of its layer transfer process to different layered materials without requiring a specialized stamp—a feature useful for generalizing the assembly process. We demonstrate vdW graphene devices with peak carrier mobility of 200,000 and 800,000 cm2V−1s−1at room temperature and 9 K, respectively. The simplicity of our construction method and its versatility to different layered materials may open doors for automating the fabrication process of vdW heterostructures.
more » « less- NSF-PAR ID:
- 10161791
- Publisher / Repository:
- Nature Publishing Group
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Nature Communications
- Volume:
- 11
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 2041-1723
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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