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Image polaritons in boron nitride for extreme polariton confinement with low losses

Author

Listed:
  • In-Ho Lee

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Mingze He

    (Vanderbilt University)

  • Xi Zhang

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Yujie Luo

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Song Liu

    (Kansas State University)

  • James H. Edgar

    (Kansas State University)

  • Ke Wang

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Phaedon Avouris

    (IBM T. J. Watson Research Center)

  • Tony Low

    (University of Minnesota)

  • Joshua D. Caldwell

    (Vanderbilt University)

  • Sang-Hyun Oh

    (University of Minnesota)

Abstract

Polaritons in two-dimensional materials provide extreme light confinement that is difficult to achieve with metal plasmonics. However, such tight confinement inevitably increases optical losses through various damping channels. Here we demonstrate that hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride can overcome this fundamental trade-off. Among two observed polariton modes, featuring a symmetric and antisymmetric charge distribution, the latter exhibits lower optical losses and tighter polariton confinement. Far-field excitation and detection of this high-momenta mode become possible with our resonator design that can boost the coupling efficiency via virtual polariton modes with image charges that we dub ‘image polaritons’. Using these image polaritons, we experimentally observe a record-high effective index of up to 132 and quality factors as high as 501. Further, our phenomenological theory suggests an important role of hyperbolic surface scattering in the damping process of hyperbolic phonon polaritons.

Suggested Citation

  • In-Ho Lee & Mingze He & Xi Zhang & Yujie Luo & Song Liu & James H. Edgar & Ke Wang & Phaedon Avouris & Tony Low & Joshua D. Caldwell & Sang-Hyun Oh, 2020. "Image polaritons in boron nitride for extreme polariton confinement with low losses," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-8, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:11:y:2020:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-020-17424-w
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-17424-w
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    Cited by:

    1. Seungjun Lee & Dongjea Seo & Sang Hyun Park & Nezhueytl Izquierdo & Eng Hock Lee & Rehan Younas & Guanyu Zhou & Milan Palei & Anthony J. Hoffman & Min Seok Jang & Christopher L. Hinkle & Steven J. Koe, 2023. "Achieving near-perfect light absorption in atomically thin transition metal dichalcogenides through band nesting," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Sebastián Castilla & Hitesh Agarwal & Ioannis Vangelidis & Yuliy V. Bludov & David Alcaraz Iranzo & Adrià Grabulosa & Matteo Ceccanti & Mikhail I. Vasilevskiy & Roshan Krishna Kumar & Eli Janzen & Jam, 2024. "Electrical spectroscopy of polaritonic nanoresonators," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.

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