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The isolation of thermodynamically stable, free standing materials with single to few atom thicknesses has brought about a revolution in materials science, condensed matter physics and device engineering for opto-electronic applications. These two dimensional (2D) materials cover a broad range of electronic properties ranging from zero-band gap, semi-metallic graphene to wide band gap semiconductors in sulfides and selenides of Mo and W to metallic behavior in Ti, Nb and Ta sulfides and selenides. This permits their potential application in opto-electronic devices from terahertz frequencies up to the ultraviolet portion of the spectrum. However, their atomically thin nature poses fundamental challenges in driving efficient light–matter interactions. A range of strategies have been explored from the area of photonics and resonant optics that enhance the coupling and interaction of light with atomically thin layers to …