Open AccessHybrid phonon-polaritons at atomically-thin van der Waals heterointerfaces for infrared optical modulation
Author(s) -
Qing Zhang,
Zhen Zhou,
Yongfei Yang,
Gongwen Gan,
Deep Jariwala,
Xudong Cui
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
optics express
Language(s) - Danish
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.394
H-Index - 271
ISSN - 1094-4087
DOI - 10.1364/oe.27.018585
Subject(s) - polariton , nanophotonics , materials science , graphene , optoelectronics , dielectric , phonon , plasmon , surface plasmon polariton , van der waals force , surface phonon , surface plasmon , infrared , heterojunction , optics , condensed matter physics , nanotechnology , physics , quantum mechanics , molecule
Surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs) in polar dielectrics are potential candidates for infrared nanophotonics due to their low optical loss and long phonon life-time. However, the small confinement factors of bulk SPhPs, limits their applications that require small footprint and strong light-matter interaction. Here, we report that ultrathin van der Waals dielectrics (e.g., MoS 2 and h-BN) on Silicon Carbide enable ultra-confined dielectric tailored surface phonon polaritons (d-SPhPs) where the confinement factor can exceed 100. By creating a heterostructure of these vdW dielectrics with graphene, the d-SPhPs can hybridize with graphene plasmons which can be electrically tuned. By subwavelength patterning of the vdW dielectrics, these hybrid polaritons can be localized into ultra-small antenna volumes (λ0 3 /v antenna 3 ~100 3 ) with high-quality factor resonances (Q~85). Further, electric gating of graphene enables active tunability of these localized resonances which results in an electro-optic modulator with modulation depth exceeding 95%. Our report of manipulating and controlling ultra-confined SPhPs in van der Waals heterostructures, serves as a possible route for non-plasmonic platforms for infrared photodetectors, modulators and sensors.