Nonlinear optical properties, such as bulk photovoltaic effects, possess great potential in energy harvesting, photodetection, rectification, etc. To enable efficient light–current conversion, materials with strong photo-responsivity are highly desirable. Researchers predict that monolayer Janus transition metal dichalcogenides (JTMDs) in the 1T′ phase possess colossal nonlinear photoconductivity owing to their topological band mixing, strong inversion symmetry breaking, and small electronic bandgap.
Remarkable photo-responsivities indicate that the 1T′ Janus transition metal dichalcogenides can serve as efficient photodetectors in the THz range. The researchers also find that external stimuli such as the in-plane strain and out-of-plane electric field can induce topological phase transitions in 1T′ JTMDs and that the SC can abruptly flip their directions.
The abrupt change of the nonlinear photocurrent can be used to characterize the topological transition and has potential applications in 2D optomechanics and nonlinear optoelectronics.
Nonlinear optical (NLO) materials have the potential to generate new physical effects with the development of powerful light sources. The generation of nonlinear direct photocurrent in response to light illumination has recently piqued the interest of many researchers. It is referred to as the bulk photovoltaic effect (BPVE). The shifting current (SC), or photocurrent under linearly polarized light, has been theoretically predicted and experimentally observed in materials such as multiferroic perovskites and monolayer monochalcogenides.
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