Thirty Gigahertz Optoelectronic Mixing in Chemical Vapor Deposited Graphene

Abstract

© 2016 American Chemical Society. The remarkable properties of graphene, such as broadband optical absorption, high carrier mobility, and short photogenerated carrier lifetime, are particularly attractive for high-frequency optoelectronic devices operating at 1.55 μm telecom wavelength. Moreover, the possibility to transfer graphene on a silicon substrate using a complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor-compatible process opens the ability to integrate electronics and optics on a single cost-effective chip. Here, we report an optoelectronic mixer based on chemical vapor-deposited graphene transferred on an oxidized silicon substrate. Our device consists in a coplanar waveguide that integrates a graphene channel, passivated with an atomic layer-deposited Al2O3 film. With this new structure, 30 GHz optoelectronic mixing in commercially available graphene is demonstrated for the first time. In particular, using a 30 GHz intensity-modulated optical signal and a 29.9 GHz electrical signal, we show frequency downconversion to 100 MHz. These results open promising perspectives in the domain of optoelectronics for radar and radio-communication systems.