Real-space nanoimaging of THz polaritons in the topological insulator Bi2Se3

Chen, Shu; Bylinkin, Andrei; Wang, Zhengtianye; Schnell, Martin; Chandan, Greeshma; Li, Peining; Nikitin, Alexey Y.; Law, Stephanie; Hillenbrand, Rainer

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-28791-x

Real-space nanoimaging of THz polaritons in the topological insulator Bi₂Se₃

Journal Article · Wed Mar 16 00:00:00 EDT 2022 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-28791-x· OSTI ID:1960367

Chen, Shu ^[1]; ^[2]; Wang, Zhengtianye ^[3]; ^[4]; Chandan, Greeshma ^[3]; ^[5]; ^[6]; ^[3]; ^[7]

CIC nanoGUNE BRTA, Donostia - San Sebastián (Spain); Penn State University
CIC nanoGUNE BRTA, Donostia - San Sebastián (Spain); Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Donostia - San Sebastián (Spain)
Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)
CIC nanoGUNE BRTA, Donostia - San Sebastián (Spain); IKERBASQUE, Bilbao (Spain)
Huazhong Univ. of Science and Technology, Wuhan (China)
Donostia International Physics Center (DIPC), Donostia - San Sebastián (Spain); IKERBASQUE, Bilbao (Spain)
IKERBASQUE, Bilbao (Spain); CIC nanoGUNE BRTA and Department of Electricity and Electronics, Donostia-San Sebastián (Spain)

Plasmon polaritons in topological insulators attract attention from a fundamental perspective and for potential THz photonic applications. Although polaritons have been observed by THz far-field spectroscopy on topological insulator microstructures, real-space imaging of propagating THz polaritons has been elusive so far. Here, we show spectroscopic THz near-field images of thin Bi₂Se₃ layers (prototypical topological insulators) revealing polaritons with up to 12 times increased momenta as compared to photons of the same energy and decay times of about 0.48 ps, yet short propagation lengths. From the images we determine and analyze the polariton dispersion, showing that the polaritons can be explained by the coupling of THz radiation to various combinations of Dirac and massive carriers at the Bi₂Se₃ surfaces, massive bulk carriers and optical phonons. Our work provides critical insights into the nature of THz polaritons in topological insulators and establishes instrumentation and methodology for imaging of THz polaritons.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Univ. of Delaware, Newark, DE (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: National Science Foundation Major Research Instrumentation; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Materials Sciences & Engineering Division

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0017801

OSTI ID:: 1960367

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 13; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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