Novel method to measure ultra-fast, thin photo-detector

Researchers from Cornell University have devised a new method to measure ultra-fast and thin photodetector.

The team, headed by associate professor Farhan Rana measured the ultrafast response of their 2D photodetector using a strobe-like process called two-pulse photovoltage correlation.

"By varying the time between the first and second pulse, and looking at the response of the device as a result, you can sort of see what the intrinsic speed of the device is," explained Rana.

Photodetection is used in various high-speed optoelectronic applications, including optical fiber networks.

Graduate student Haining Wang came up with an inventive way of measuring the near-instantaneous electrical current generated using a light detector that he and a team of Cornell engineers made using an atomically thin material.

According to Rana, the photodetection technology will play a major role in emerging fields, such as LiFi - using light as a source of wireless communication.

Windows and walls could be coated with atomically thin layers of material that would interact with light and carry Internet signals.

The paper was published in the journal Nature Communications.