Evanescent Absorption Spectroscopy of Transition Metal Dichalcogenide Materials Using Guided Photoluminescence in Si3N4 Photonic Waveguides

Abstract

On-chip integration of two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) with photonic waveguides underpins a growing class of compact optoelectronic and sensing devices, whose performance depends on the optical absorption of the two-dimensional (2D) material in this integrated environment. We demonstrate a source-free, on-chip evanescent absorption spectroscopy of MoS₂ and WS₂ flakes integrated on Si₃N₄ waveguides, in which the broadband defect-related photoluminescence of the Si₃N₄ core itself acts as the internal probe. Light generated inside the core propagates under the TMD flake and is spectrally attenuated by evanescent interaction with the 2D material, and normalizing the transmitted spectrum to a reference waveguide without TMD yields the energy-dependent absorption response without requiring an external broadband probe. The extracted guided absorption agrees with Raman and local micro-photoluminescence characterization and resolves differences between spatially uniform and non-uniform flakes. A complementary top-pumping scheme recovers guided WS₂ photoluminescence, whose spectral reshaping during propagation is quantitatively reproduced by the measured absorption. This source-free platform qualifies 2D materials in their integrated photonic environment and provides a direct route toward waveguide-integrated TMD photodetectors and sensors.