A practical and effective method for reducing differential reflectance spectroscopy noise

Differential reflectance spectroscopy(DRS)is a powerful tool to study processes during thin-film growth,especially that of transition metal dichalcogenides and organic thin films.To satisfy the requirements for in situ and real-time monitoring of film growth,including spectral resolution and sensitivity at the level of monolayers and even sub-monolayers,the most challenging technical task in DRS is to reduce noise to an extremely low level so that the best possible signal-to-noise ratio can be achieved.In this paper,we present a simplified and cost-effective DRS apparatus,with which we show that the measurement noise is mainly composed of thermal drift noise and explore the temperature-dependence of the DRS signal.Based on the results obtained,we propose an easily realized and effective scheme aiming to reduce the noise.Experimental results demonstrate that this scheme is effective in stabilizing reliable signals for a long period of several hours.Significant noise reduction is achieved,with the typical average noise of the DRS system being decreased to 0.05%over several hours.The improved DRS system is applied to study the growth of an organic semiconductor layer for an organic field-effect transistor device.The results indicate that the apparatus proposed in this paper has potential applications in fabrication of devices on the nanoscale and even the sub-nanoscale.

Sign of differential reflection and transmission in pump-probe spectroscopy of graphene on dielectric substrate

Pump-probe differential reflection and transmission spectroscopy is a very effective tool to study the nonequilibrium carrier dynamics of graphene. The reported sign of differential reflection from graphene is not explicitly explained and not consistent. Here, we study the differential reflection and transmission signals of graphene on a dielectric substrate. The results reveal the sign of differential reflection changes with the incident direction of the probe beam with respect to the substrate. The obtained theory can be applied to predict the differential signals of other two-dimensional materials placed on various dielectric substrates.

Towards efficient strain engineering of 2D materials:A four-points bending approach for compressive strain

Strain engineering,as a powerful strategy to tune the optical and electrical properties of two-dimensional(2D)materials by deforming their crystal lattice,has attracted significant interest in recent years.2D materials can sustain ultra-high strains,even up to 10%,due to the lack of dangling bonds on their surface,making them ideal brittle solids.This remarkable mechanical resilience,together with a strong strain-tunable band structure,endows 2D materials with a broad optical and electrical response upon strain.However,strain engineering based on 2D materials is restricted by their nanoscale and strain quantification troubles.In this study,we have modified a homebuilt three-points bending apparatus to transform it into a four-points bending apparatus that allows for the application of both compressive and tensile strains on 2D materials.This approach allows for the efficient and reproducible construction of a strain system and minimizes the buckling effect caused by the van der Waals interaction by adamantane encapsulation strategy.Our results demonstrate the feasibility of introducing compressive strain on 2D materials and the potential for tuning their optical and physical properties through this approach.