Optical contrast of 2D InSe on SiO₂/Si and transparent substrates using bandpass filters

The particular optical and electronic properties recently reported for 2D InSe depict this 2D material as being very versatile for future electronic and optoelectronic devices with tunable and optimized functionalities. For its fundamental study and the development of practical applications, rapid and accurate identification methods of atomically thin InSe are essential. Here, we demonstrate an enhancement of the optical contrast between InSe nanosheets and the underlying SiO₂/Si substrate by illuminating with a 40 nm wide bandpass filter centered at 500 nm. Moreover, we study the optical contrast of 2D InSe on transparent substrates. Our results suggest that a good optical contrast is achieved for transparent substrates with low real refractive indices such as LiF or a viscoelastic polydimethylsiloxane stamp. In this case, an optimum optical contrast would be achieved by using a bandpass filter centered at 450 nm. These results can be very useful for speeding up the continuously growing research on 2D InSe and its applications. (paper)