A bismuthene-based multifunctional all-optical phase and intensity modulator enabled by photothermal effect

All-optical modulators fully manipulating one light by another light in the photonics domain have attracted great research interest in optical interconnects, optical communication networks etc. By employing an all-fiber Michelson interferometer, an all-optical phase and intensity modulator based on the excellent photothermal effect of few-layer bismuthene, for the first time, has been designed and successfully verified with multifunctional properties, including phase shifting, wavelength tuning, intensity modulating and information loading. Besides these multifunctional properties, it possesses a high conversion efficiency, excellent wavelength-tunable precision, large modulation depth and switchable output logic. We believe that this multifunctional all-optical modulator provides fundamental guidance on the design of all-optical systems with the fewest types of basic devices. It is therefore anticipated that this contribution will promote the development of two dimensional nanomaterial-based all-optical modulators towards all-optical communication and computing in the future.