Optical rectification in a reconfigurable resistive switching filament

We demonstrate optical rectification in a reconfigurable and relatively simple nanoscopic tunneling junction formed via resistive switching. In optical rectification, electrons must keep up with the rapid oscillations of an illuminating optical field and harness the nonlinearities of a tunneling contact to produce the desired DC field. Among the intrinsic requirements for such devices are tunneling junctions with an exceedingly small capacitance and surface area. In contrast to tunneling junctions formed by different methods, the resistive switching approach explored here allows the system to be tuned, set, and reset via the application of DC electric fields. This makes it ideally suitable for exploring optical rectification phenomena under different tunneling conditions and for dynamically tuning the device's responsivity. This “on-the-go” tunability opens the possibility for adaptive devices, such as ultrafast photon detectors, wireless power transmitters, and energy harvesting systems.We demonstrate optical rectification in a reconfigurable and relatively simple nanoscopic tunneling junction formed via resistive switching. In optical rectification, electrons must keep up with the rapid oscillations of an illuminating optical field and harness the nonlinearities of a tunneling contact to produce the desired DC field. Among the intrinsic requirements for such devices are tunneling junctions with an exceedingly small capacitance and surface area. In contrast to tunneling junctions formed by different methods, the resistive switching approach explored here allows the system to be tuned, set, and reset via the application of DC electric fields. This makes it ideally suitable for exploring optical rectification phenomena under different tunneling conditions and for dynamically tuning the device's responsivity. This “on-the-go” tunability opens the possibility for adaptive devices, such as ultrafast photon detectors, wireless power transmitters, and energy harvesting systems.