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Title: Ultralow-loss polaritons in isotopically pure boron nitride

Journal Article · · Nature Materials
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat5047· OSTI ID:1423117
 [1];  [2];  [1];  [3];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [5]; ORCiD logo [1]
  1. Naval Research Lab. (NRL), Washington, DC (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Kansas State Univ., Manhattan, KS (United States). Dept. of Chemical Engineering
  4. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science & Technology Division
  5. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics; Columbia Univ., New York, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics

Conventional optical components are limited to size scales much larger than the wavelength of light, as changes to the amplitude, phase and polarization of the electromagnetic fields are accrued gradually along an optical path. However, advances in nanophotonics have produced ultrathin, so-called ‘flat’ optical components that beget abrupt changes in these properties over distances significantly shorter than the free-space wavelength. Although high optical losses still plague many approaches, phonon polariton (PhP) materials have demonstrated long lifetimes for sub-diffractional modes in comparison to plasmon-polariton-based nanophotonics. We experimentally observe a threefold improvement in polariton lifetime through isotopic enrichment of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Commensurate increases in the polariton propagation length are demonstrated via direct imaging of polaritonic standing waves by means of infrared nano-optics. Lastly, our results provide the foundation for a materials-growth-directed approach aimed at realizing the loss control necessary for the development of PhP-based nanophotonic devices.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
OSTI ID:
1423117
Journal Information:
Nature Materials, Vol. 17, Issue 2; ISSN 1476-1122
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 219 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (56)

A Multibeam Interference Model for Analyzing Complex Near‐Field Images of Polaritons in 2D van der Waals Microstructures journal August 2019
Energy Transport by Radiation in Hyperbolic Material Comparable to Conduction journal December 2019
Exploiting Phonon‐Resonant Near‐Field Interaction for the Nanoscale Investigation of Extended Defects journal January 2020
Manipulation and Steering of Hyperbolic Surface Polaritons in Hexagonal Boron Nitride journal March 2018
Phase‐Change Hyperbolic Heterostructures for Nanopolaritonics: A Case Study of hBN/VO 2 journal February 2019
Scaling and Reflection Behaviors of Polaritons in Low‐Dimensional Materials journal September 2019
Recent Progress on Exciton Polaritons in Layered Transition‐Metal Dichalcogenides journal September 2019
Nanoimaging and Nanospectroscopy of Polaritons with Time Resolved s ‐SNOM journal September 2019
Revealing Phonon Polaritons in Hexagonal Boron Nitride by Multipulse Peak Force Infrared Microscopy journal November 2019
Functional Mid‐Infrared Polaritonics in van der Waals Crystals journal November 2019
Phonon Polaritons and Hyperbolic Response in van der Waals Materials journal November 2019
Probing Polaritons in 2D Materials journal January 2020
Boron nitride nanoresonators for phonon-enhanced molecular vibrational spectroscopy at the strong coupling limit journal December 2017
Selective excitation and imaging of ultraslow phonon polaritons in thin hexagonal boron nitride crystals journal June 2018
Photonic crystal cavities from hexagonal boron nitride journal July 2018
Reconfigurable infrared hyperbolic metasurfaces using phase change materials journal October 2018
Deeply subwavelength phonon-polaritonic crystal made of a van der Waals material journal January 2019
Type-I hyperbolic metasurfaces for highly-squeezed designer polaritons with negative group velocity journal May 2019
Launching of hyperbolic phonon-polaritons in h-BN slabs by resonant metal plasmonic antennas journal July 2019
Polariton nanophotonics using phase-change materials journal October 2019
Kinetic modulation of graphene growth by fluorine through spatially confined decomposition of metal fluorides journal July 2019
Efficient electrical detection of mid-infrared graphene plasmons at room temperature journal August 2018
Photonics with hexagonal boron nitride journal July 2019
In-plane anisotropic and ultra-low-loss polaritons in a natural van der Waals crystal journal October 2018
Modulating the thermal conductivity in hexagonal boron nitride via controlled boron isotope concentration journal May 2019
Quantifying transmission electron microscopy irradiation effects using two-dimensional materials journal May 2019
2D library beyond graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides: a focus on photodetection journal January 2018
High-efficiency modulation of coupling between different polaritons in an in-plane graphene/hexagonal boron nitride heterostructure journal January 2019
Predicting the preferred morphology of hexagonal boron nitride domain structure on nickel from ReaxFF-based molecular dynamics simulations journal January 2019
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Electrical plasmon injection in double-layer graphene heterostructures journal September 2019
Influence of spatial dispersion on spectral tuning of phonon-polaritons journal November 2019
Reflection phase shift of one-dimensional plasmon polaritons in carbon nanotubes journal January 2020
Ultra-confined mid-infrared resonant phonon polaritons in van der Waals nanostructures journal June 2018
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Engineering phonon polaritons in van der Waals heterostructures to enhance in-plane optical anisotropy journal April 2019
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