New light trap design supercharges atom-thin semiconductors

Scientists have found a clever way to supercharge ultra-thin semiconductors by reshaping the space beneath them rather than altering the material itself. By placing a single-atom-thick layer of tungsten disulfide over tiny air cavities carved into a crystal, they created miniature “light traps” that dramatically boost brightness and optical effects—up to 20 times stronger emission and 25 times stronger nonlinear signals. These hollow structures, called Mie voids, concentrate light exactly where the material sits, overcoming a major limitation of atomically thin devices. A study published in Advanced Photonics presents a new strategy to overcome this limitation by modifying not the material itself, but the space beneath it. In this approach, a single layer of WS2 is placed on nanoscale air cavities, called Mie voids,... [5466 chars]