Probing the ultimate plasmon confinement limits with a van der Waals heterostructure

Alcaraz, David Israel Méndez; Nanot, Sébastien; Dias, Eduardo J. C.; Epstein, Itai; Peng, Cheng; Efetov, Dmitri K.; Lundeberg, Mark B.; Parret, Romain; Osmond, Johann; Hong, Jin‐Yong; Kong, Jing; Englund, Dirk; Peres, N. M. R.; Koppens, Frank H. L.

doi:10.1126/science.aar8438

Cited by 280 publications

(160 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…Finally, we mention an experiment performed on a van der Waals structure by Iranzo et al [65]. These authors were able to confine propagating plasmon between a graphene layer and a metal array to the atomic limit without sacrificing its lifetime, which obviously beats the limit set by Landau damping.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A universal macroscopic theory of surface plasma waves and their losses

Deng

2019

New J. Phys.

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Recently, we have revealed an intrinsic instability of metals due to surface plasma waves (SPWs) and raised the prospect of using it to create lossless SPWs. The counter-intuitive nature of this finding prompts one to ask, why had not this instability been disclosed before, given the long history of this subject? If this instability does exist, how far is it from reality? The present work is devoted to answering these questions. To this end, we derive a unified macroscopic theory of SPWs that applies to any type of electron dynamics, be they local or non-local, classical or quantum-mechanical. In light of this theory, we analyze the behaviors of SPWs according to several electron dynamics models, including the widely used local dielectric model, the hydrodynamic model and the specular reflection model, in addition to the less common semi-classical model. We find that, in order to unveil the instability, one must (i) self-consistently treat surface effects without any of the usually imposed auxiliary conditions and (ii) include translation symmetry breaking effects in electron dynamics. As far as we are concerned, none existing work had fulfilled both (i) and (ii). To assess the possibility of realizing the instability, we analyze two very important factors: the dielectric interfacing the metal and inter-band transitions, which both were ignored in our recent work. Whereas inter-band absorption-together with Landau damping-is shown adverse to the instability, a dielectric brings it closer to occurrence. One may even attain it in common plasmonic materials such as silver under not so tough conditions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

A universal macroscopic theory of surface plasma waves and their losses

Deng

2019

New J. Phys.

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“…Graphene can sustain long-lived plasmons [1,[9][10][11], and 2D plasmonic materials can confine light in deep subwavelength regimes as a result of their intrinsic 2D property and plasmon dispersion. Very recently, Iranzo et al [12] reported extreme plasmon confinement based on a layered structure consisting of graphene, hexagonal boron nitride, and a metal grating to squeeze light within the length of a single layer. Still, and despite its remark- * saxi@fotonik.dtu.dk able electronic and optical properties, realizing graphene-based devices for high-quality field-effect transistors is challenging due to the absence of a bandgap.…”

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confidence: 99%

Magnetoplasmons in monolayer black phosphorus structures

et al. 2019

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Two-dimensional materials supporting deep-subwavelength plasmonic modes can also exhibit strong magnetooptical responses. Here, we theoretically investigate magnetoplasmons (MPs) in monolayer black phosphorus (BP) structures under moderate static magnetic fields. We consider three different structures, namely, a continuous BP monolayer, an edge formed by a semi-infinite sheet, and finally, a triangular wedge configuration. Each of these structures shows strongly anisotropic magneto-optical responses induced both by the external magnetic field and by the intrinsic anisotropy of the BP lattice. Starting from the magneto-optical conductivity of a single-layer of BP, we derive the dispersion relation of the MPs in the considered geometries, using a combination of analytical, semi-analytical, and numerical methods. We fully characterize the MP dispersions and the properties of the corresponding field distributions, and we show that these structures sustain strongly anisotropic subwavelength modes that are highly tunable. Our results demonstrate that MPs in monolayer BP, with its inherent lattice anisotropy as well as magnetically induced anisotropy, hold potential for tunable anisotropic materials operating below the diffraction limit, thereby paving the way for tailored nanophotonic devices at the nanoscale.

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“…More recently, the thickness limit was pushed down to monolayers of hBN as a 2D medium for propagating phonon polaritons (Figure e). In monolayer hBN, the volume confinement of polaritons reaches more than one million following the common convention . The linear thickness scaling law vanishes down to monolayer vdW insulators: the phonon hardening effect (Figure f) caused a blueshift of the phonon polaritons dispersion due to the lack of interactions in monolayer in contrast to multilayers and bulk crystals.…”

Section: Phonon Polaritons In Low‐dimensional Materialsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Phonon Polaritons and Hyperbolic Response in van der Waals Materials

Shen

Qiu

et al. 2019

Advanced Optical Materials

100

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Phonon polaritons provide useful opportunities, complementary to those provided by plasmon polaritons, in the study of the interaction of light with matter at small scales. The focus of this review is on phonon polaritons in low‐dimensional van der Waals (vdW) materials and heterostructures. Phonon polaritons confined in vdW materials exhibit large electromagnetic localization and are easy to hybridize with other collective modes. The extreme optical anisotropy in vdW systems produces the natural hyperbolic dispersion, enabling the access to deep subdiffractional optics and often yielding improved figures of merit over hyperbolic metamaterials. These virtues hold promises for practical nanophotonic applications, including optical sensing, super‐resolution imaging, energy and emission engineering, quantum optics, and a next generation of optical circuit elements.

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Probing the ultimate plasmon confinement limits with a van der Waals heterostructure

Cited by 280 publications

References 44 publications

A universal macroscopic theory of surface plasma waves and their losses

A universal macroscopic theory of surface plasma waves and their losses

Magnetoplasmons in monolayer black phosphorus structures

Phonon Polaritons and Hyperbolic Response in van der Waals Materials

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