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Topological polaritons and photonic magic angles in twisted α-MoO3 bilayers

Author

Listed:
  • Guangwei Hu

    (National University of Singapore
    City University of New York)

  • Qingdong Ou

    (Monash University)

  • Guangyuan Si

    (Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility)

  • Yingjie Wu

    (Monash University)

  • Jing Wu

    (Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research))

  • Zhigao Dai

    (Monash University
    China University of Geosciences)

  • Alex Krasnok

    (City University of New York)

  • Yarden Mazor

    (The University of Texas at Austin)

  • Qing Zhang

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Qiaoliang Bao

    (Monash University)

  • Cheng-Wei Qiu

    (National University of Singapore)

  • Andrea Alù

    (City University of New York
    The University of Texas at Austin
    City University of New York)

Abstract

Twisted two-dimensional bilayer materials exhibit many exotic electronic phenomena. Manipulating the ‘twist angle’ between the two layers enables fine control of the electronic band structure, resulting in magic-angle flat-band superconductivity1,2, the formation of moiré excitons3–8 and interlayer magnetism9. However, there are limited demonstrations of such concepts for photons. Here we show how analogous principles, combined with extreme anisotropy, enable control and manipulation of the photonic dispersion of phonon polaritons in van der Waals bilayers. We experimentally observe tunable topological transitions from open (hyperbolic) to closed (elliptical) dispersion contours in bilayers of α-phase molybdenum trioxide (α-MoO3), arising when the rotation between the layers is at a photonic magic twist angle. These transitions are induced by polariton hybridization and are controlled by a topological quantity. At the transitions the bilayer dispersion flattens, exhibiting low-loss tunable polariton canalization and diffractionless propagation with a resolution of less than λ0/40, where λ0 is the free-space wavelength. Our findings extend twistronics10 and moiré physics to nanophotonics and polaritonics, with potential applications in nanoimaging, nanoscale light propagation, energy transfer and quantum physics.

Suggested Citation

  • Guangwei Hu & Qingdong Ou & Guangyuan Si & Yingjie Wu & Jing Wu & Zhigao Dai & Alex Krasnok & Yarden Mazor & Qing Zhang & Qiaoliang Bao & Cheng-Wei Qiu & Andrea Alù, 2020. "Topological polaritons and photonic magic angles in twisted α-MoO3 bilayers," Nature, Nature, vol. 582(7811), pages 209-213, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:582:y:2020:i:7811:d:10.1038_s41586-020-2359-9
    DOI: 10.1038/s41586-020-2359-9
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Qiaoxia Xing & Jiasheng Zhang & Yuqiang Fang & Chaoyu Song & Tuoyu Zhao & Yanlin Mou & Chong Wang & Junwei Ma & Yuangang Xie & Shenyang Huang & Lei Mu & Yuchen Lei & Wu Shi & Fuqiang Huang & Hugen Yan, 2024. "Tunable anisotropic van der Waals films of 2M-WS2 for plasmon canalization," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    3. 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.
    4. Georgy A. Ermolaev & Kirill V. Voronin & Adilet N. Toksumakov & Dmitriy V. Grudinin & Ilia M. Fradkin & Arslan Mazitov & Aleksandr S. Slavich & Mikhail K. Tatmyshevskiy & Dmitry I. Yakubovsky & Valent, 2024. "Wandering principal optical axes in van der Waals triclinic materials," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-8, December.
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    7. Byungmin Sohn & Jeong Rae Kim & Choong H. Kim & Sangmin Lee & Sungsoo Hahn & Younsik Kim & Soonsang Huh & Donghan Kim & Youngdo Kim & Wonshik Kyung & Minsoo Kim & Miyoung Kim & Tae Won Noh & Changyoun, 2021. "Observation of metallic electronic structure in a single-atomic-layer oxide," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    8. 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.
    9. Xiang Ni & Giulia Carini & Weiliang Ma & Enrico Maria Renzi & Emanuele Galiffi & Sören Wasserroth & Martin Wolf & Peining Li & Alexander Paarmann & Andrea Alù, 2023. "Observation of directional leaky polaritons at anisotropic crystal interfaces," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. Liu, Xiuye & Zeng, Jianhua, 2023. "Matter-wave gap solitons and vortices of dense Bose–Einstein condensates in Moiré optical lattices," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 174(C).
    13. Geng-Bo Wu & Jun Yan Dai & Kam Man Shum & Ka Fai Chan & Qiang Cheng & Tie Jun Cui & Chi Hou Chan, 2023. "A universal metasurface antenna to manipulate all fundamental characteristics of electromagnetic waves," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-14, December.
    14. Jiangtao Lv & Yingjie Wu & Jingying Liu & Youning Gong & Guangyuan Si & Guangwei Hu & Qing Zhang & Yupeng Zhang & Jian-Xin Tang & Michael S. Fuhrer & Hongsheng Chen & Stefan A. Maier & Cheng-Wei Qiu &, 2023. "Hyperbolic polaritonic crystals with configurable low-symmetry Bloch modes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-8, December.
    15. 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.
    16. 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.
    17. 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.
    18. 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.
    19. Huagen Li & Dong Wang & Guoqiang Xu & Kaipeng Liu & Tan Zhang & Jiaxin Li & Guangming Tao & Shuihua Yang & Yanghua Lu & Run Hu & Shisheng Lin & Ying Li & Cheng-Wei Qiu, 2024. "Twisted moiré conductive thermal metasurface," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    20. Yufei Sun & Yujia Wang & Enze Wang & Bolun Wang & Hengyi Zhao & Yongpan Zeng & Qinghua Zhang & Yonghuang Wu & Lin Gu & Xiaoyan Li & Kai Liu, 2022. "Determining the interlayer shearing in twisted bilayer MoS2 by nanoindentation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-9, December.

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