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In-plane anisotropic and ultra-low-loss polaritons in a natural van der Waals crystal

Author

Listed:
  • Weiliang Ma

    (Soochow University)

  • Pablo Alonso-González

    (Universidad de Oviedo)

  • Shaojuan Li

    (Soochow University)

  • Alexey Y. Nikitin

    (Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC)
    IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science)

  • Jian Yuan

    (Soochow University)

  • Javier Martín-Sánchez

    (Universidad de Oviedo)

  • Javier Taboada-Gutiérrez

    (Universidad de Oviedo)

  • Iban Amenabar

    (CIC nanoGUNE)

  • Peining Li

    (CIC nanoGUNE)

  • Saül Vélez

    (CIC nanoGUNE
    ETH Zürich)

  • Christopher Tollan

    (CIC nanoGUNE)

  • Zhigao Dai

    (Monash University)

  • Yupeng Zhang

    (Monash University)

  • Sharath Sriram

    (RMIT University)

  • Kourosh Kalantar-Zadeh

    (University of New South Wales (UNSW))

  • Shuit-Tong Lee

    (Soochow University)

  • Rainer Hillenbrand

    (IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science
    CIC nanoGUNE
    CIC nanoGUNE and UPV/EHU)

  • Qiaoliang Bao

    (Soochow University
    Monash University)

Abstract

Polaritons—hybrid light–matter excitations—enable nanoscale control of light. Particularly large polariton field confinement and long lifetimes can be found in graphene and materials consisting of two-dimensional layers bound by weak van der Waals forces1,2 (vdW materials). These polaritons can be tuned by electric fields3,4 or by material thickness5, leading to applications including nanolasers6, tunable infrared and terahertz detectors7, and molecular sensors8. Polaritons with anisotropic propagation along the surface of vdW materials have been predicted, caused by in-plane anisotropic structural and electronic properties9. In such materials, elliptic and hyperbolic in-plane polariton dispersion can be expected (for example, plasmon polaritons in black phosphorus9), the latter leading to an enhanced density of optical states and ray-like directional propagation along the surface. However, observation of anisotropic polariton propagation in natural materials has so far remained elusive. Here we report anisotropic polariton propagation along the surface of α-MoO3, a natural vdW material. By infrared nano-imaging and nano-spectroscopy of semiconducting α-MoO3 flakes and disks, we visualize and verify phonon polaritons with elliptic and hyperbolic in-plane dispersion, and with wavelengths (up to 60 times smaller than the corresponding photon wavelengths) comparable to those of graphene plasmon polaritons and boron nitride phonon polaritons3–5. From signal oscillations in real-space images we measure polariton amplitude lifetimes of 8 picoseconds, which is more than ten times larger than that of graphene plasmon polaritons at room temperature10. They are also a factor of about four larger than the best values so far reported for phonon polaritons in isotopically engineered boron nitride11 and for graphene plasmon polaritons at low temperatures12. In-plane anisotropic and ultra-low-loss polaritons in vdW materials could enable directional and strong light–matter interactions, nanoscale directional energy transfer and integrated flat optics in applications ranging from bio-sensing to quantum nanophotonics.

Suggested Citation

  • Weiliang Ma & Pablo Alonso-González & Shaojuan Li & Alexey Y. Nikitin & Jian Yuan & Javier Martín-Sánchez & Javier Taboada-Gutiérrez & Iban Amenabar & Peining Li & Saül Vélez & Christopher Tollan & Zh, 2018. "In-plane anisotropic and ultra-low-loss polaritons in a natural van der Waals crystal," Nature, Nature, vol. 562(7728), pages 557-562, October.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:562:y:2018:i:7728:d:10.1038_s41586-018-0618-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0618-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Wang, Jian & Wang, Yincheng & Dong, Xiaoshan & Hu, Yongjie & Tao, Junyu & Kumar, Akash & Yan, Beibei & Chen, Yuxuan & Su, Hong & Chen, Guanyi, 2024. "Insights into behaviors of functional groups in biomass derived products during aqueous phase reforming over Ni/α-MoO3 catalysts," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 224(C).
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    10. Hongwei Wang & Anshuman Kumar & Siyuan Dai & Xiao Lin & Zubin Jacob & Sang-Hyun Oh & Vinod Menon & Evgenii Narimanov & Young Duck Kim & Jian-Ping Wang & Phaedon Avouris & Luis Martin Moreno & Joshua C, 2024. "Planar hyperbolic polaritons in 2D van der Waals materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-14, December.
    11. Rao Fu & Yusong Qu & Mengfei Xue & Xinghui Liu & Shengyao Chen & Yongqian Zhao & Runkun Chen & Boxuan Li & Hongming Weng & Qian Liu & Qing Dai & Jianing Chen, 2024. "Manipulating hyperbolic transient plasmons in a layered semiconductor," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    12. Francesco L. Ruta & Brian S. Y. Kim & Zhiyuan Sun & Daniel J. Rizzo & Alexander S. McLeod & Anjaly Rajendran & Song Liu & Andrew J. Millis & James C. Hone & D. N. Basov, 2022. "Surface plasmons induce topological transition in graphene/α-MoO3 heterostructures," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-7, December.
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    14. Hulin Yao & Pengcheng Zheng & Shibin Zhang & Chuanjie Hu & Xiaoli Fang & Liping Zhang & Dan Ling & Huanyang Chen & Xin Ou, 2024. "Twist piezoelectricity: giant electromechanical coupling in magic-angle twisted bilayer LiNbO3," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    15. Lukas Conrads & Luis Schüler & Konstantin G. Wirth & Matthias Wuttig & Thomas Taubner, 2024. "Direct programming of confined surface phonon polariton resonators with the plasmonic phase-change material In3SbTe2," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    16. Neda Alsadat Aghamiri & Guangwei Hu & Alireza Fali & Zhen Zhang & Jiahan Li & Sivacarendran Balendhran & Sumeet Walia & Sharath Sriram & James H. Edgar & Shriram Ramanathan & Andrea Alù & Yohannes Aba, 2022. "Reconfigurable hyperbolic polaritonics with correlated oxide metasurfaces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.
    17. Joseph Matson & Sören Wasserroth & Xiang Ni & Maximilian Obst & Katja Diaz-Granados & Giulia Carini & Enrico Maria Renzi & Emanuele Galiffi & Thomas G. Folland & Lukas M. Eng & J. Michael Klopf & Stef, 2023. "Controlling the propagation asymmetry of hyperbolic shear polaritons in beta-gallium oxide," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    18. Chunqi Zheng & Guangwei Hu & Jingxuan Wei & Xuezhi Ma & Zhipeng Li & Yinzhu Chen & Zhenhua Ni & Peining Li & Qian Wang & Cheng-Wei Qiu, 2024. "Hyperbolic-to-hyperbolic transition at exceptional Reststrahlen point in rare-earth oxyorthosilicates," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    19. Ruijuan Xu & Iris Crassee & Hans A. Bechtel & Yixi Zhou & Adrien Bercher & Lukas Korosec & Carl Willem Rischau & Jérémie Teyssier & Kevin J. Crust & Yonghun Lee & Stephanie N. Gilbert Corder & Jiarui , 2024. "Highly confined epsilon-near-zero and surface phonon polaritons in SrTiO3 membranes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Ana I. F. Tresguerres-Mata & Christian Lanza & Javier Taboada-Gutiérrez & Joseph. R. Matson & Gonzalo Álvarez-Pérez & Masahiko Isobe & Aitana Tarazaga Martín-Luengo & Jiahua Duan & Stefan Partel & Mar, 2024. "Observation of naturally canalized phonon polaritons in LiV2O5 thin layers," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-10, December.
    21. Wuchao Huang & Thomas G. Folland & Fengsheng Sun & Zebo Zheng & Ningsheng Xu & Qiaoxia Xing & Jingyao Jiang & Huanjun Chen & Joshua D. Caldwell & Hugen Yan & Shaozhi Deng, 2023. "In-plane hyperbolic polariton tuners in terahertz and long-wave infrared regimes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-12, December.
    22. Eva A. A. Pogna & Valentino Pistore & Leonardo Viti & Lianhe Li & A. Giles Davies & Edmund H. Linfield & Miriam S. Vitiello, 2024. "Near-field detection of gate-tunable anisotropic plasmon polaritons in black phosphorus at terahertz frequencies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
    23. Alaric Bergeron & Clément Gradziel & Richard Leonelli & Sébastien Francoeur, 2023. "Probing hyperbolic and surface phonon-polaritons in 2D materials using Raman spectroscopy," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-7, December.
    24. Yanze Feng & Runkun Chen & Junbo He & Liujian Qi & Yanan Zhang & Tian Sun & Xudan Zhu & Weiming Liu & Weiliang Ma & Wanfu Shen & Chunguang Hu & Xiaojuan Sun & Dabing Li & Rongjun Zhang & Peining Li & , 2023. "Visible to mid-infrared giant in-plane optical anisotropy in ternary van der Waals crystals," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.

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