Large-diameter indium antimonide microwire based broadband and robust optical switch

Various nanophotonic devices based on semiconductor wires with a diameter of several ten nanometers have been studied. Nevertheless, studying the optoelectronics properties and performance of such devices based on large-diameter wires is interesting and meaningful. Here, we successfully grew the micronsized indium antimonide (InSb) wires, and examined their nonlinear optical properties by Z-scan and I-scan (power-dependent) methods within the wavelength range of 0.8–2.8 µm. Furthermore, we demonstrated InSb microwires (MWs) working as an effective and robust optical switch within 1–2.8 µm wavelength. The findings can open possibilities for research on more large-diameter MWs made from other semiconductor materials for photonic and electronic devices.