Two-dimensional Bi2S3-based all-optical photonic devices with strong nonlinearity due to spatial self-phase modulation

Bismuth sulfide (Bi2S3) is a binary chalcogenide semiconductor compound that has received much attention in optoelectronic devices because of its stratified structure. In this work we showed that the two-dimensional (2D) Bi2S3 shows strong nonlinearity using spatial self-phase modulation and that the all-optical photonic devices, e.g. the all-optical switches and all-optical diodes, have been demonstrated experimentally by observing the nonlinear behavior of the diffraction rings. In addition, an all-optical diode is designed in this work using combined structure with 2D Bi2S3/SnS2 nanosheet by taking advantage of the reverse saturated absorption of 2D SnS2 and saturated absorption of 2D Bi2S3. Nonreciprocal light propagation has been achieved with different incident wavelength and a variety of incident intensities. Those characteristics make 2D Bi2S3 a potential candidate for the next generation nonreciprocal all-optical device.