Towards number-resolved single photon detection with van der Waals hybrids

The family of 2D van der Waals materials  which includes graphene, transition metal chalcogenides to several complex oxides, encompass many physical states of matter, including metals, semiconductors, to superconductors and magnets. It has been recently recognized that combining atomically thin membranes of dissimilar 2D materials may
lead to a new regime of material engineering where novel functionalities can be achieved that would otherwise be inaccessible in the individual components. In this talk, I shall describe a new design of vertically arranged hybrid from atomically-thin layers of graphene, molybdenum disulphide and boron nitride, that combine to form highly sensitive converters of light to electricity. The most important feature of the design is the minimization noise in
photodetection, which makes them sensitive to even individual photons.