Vacancy-Engineered Phonon Polaritons in a van der Waals Crystal

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Sakib, Mashnoon A., Hussain, Naveed, Stepanova, Mariia, Harris, William, Bocanegra, Joshua J., Wu, Ruqian, Wickramasinghe, H. Kumar, Shcherbakov, Maxim R.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2023
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author Sakib, Mashnoon A.
Hussain, Naveed
Stepanova, Mariia
Harris, William
Bocanegra, Joshua J.
Wu, Ruqian
Wickramasinghe, H. Kumar
Shcherbakov, Maxim R.
author_facet Sakib, Mashnoon A.
Hussain, Naveed
Stepanova, Mariia
Harris, William
Bocanegra, Joshua J.
Wu, Ruqian
Wickramasinghe, H. Kumar
Shcherbakov, Maxim R.
contents Phonon-polaritons (PhPs) in low-symmetry van der Waals materials confine mid-infrared electromagnetic radiation well below the diffraction limit for nanoscale optics, sensing, and energy control. However, controlling the PhP dispersion at the nanoscale through intrinsic material properties$-$without external fields, lithography, or intercalants$-$remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate vacancy-engineered tuning of PhPs in $α$-phase molybdenum trioxide ($α$-MoO$_3$) via oxygen vacancy formation and lattice strain. Near-field nanoimaging of PhPs in processed $α$-MoO$_3$ reveals an average polariton wavevector modulation of $Δk/k \approx 0.13 $ within the lower Restrahlen band. Stoichiometric analysis, density functional theory, and finite-difference time-domain simulations show agreement with the experimental results and suggest an induced vacancy concentration of $1\% - 2\%$ along with $(1.2\pm 0.2)\%$ compressive strain, resulting in a non-volatile dielectric permittivity modulation of up to $Δ\varepsilon / \varepsilon \approx 0.15$. Despite these lattice modifications, the lifetimes of thermomechanically tuned PhPs remain high at $1.2 \pm 0.31$ ps. These results establish thermomechanical vacancy engineering as a general strategy to reprogram polaritonic response in vdW crystals, offering a new degree of freedom for embedded, non-volatile nanophotonics.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2309_05574
institution arXiv
publishDate 2023
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Vacancy-Engineered Phonon Polaritons in a van der Waals Crystal
Sakib, Mashnoon A.
Hussain, Naveed
Stepanova, Mariia
Harris, William
Bocanegra, Joshua J.
Wu, Ruqian
Wickramasinghe, H. Kumar
Shcherbakov, Maxim R.
Optics
Applied Physics
Chemical Physics
Phonon-polaritons (PhPs) in low-symmetry van der Waals materials confine mid-infrared electromagnetic radiation well below the diffraction limit for nanoscale optics, sensing, and energy control. However, controlling the PhP dispersion at the nanoscale through intrinsic material properties$-$without external fields, lithography, or intercalants$-$remains elusive. Here, we demonstrate vacancy-engineered tuning of PhPs in $α$-phase molybdenum trioxide ($α$-MoO$_3$) via oxygen vacancy formation and lattice strain. Near-field nanoimaging of PhPs in processed $α$-MoO$_3$ reveals an average polariton wavevector modulation of $Δk/k \approx 0.13 $ within the lower Restrahlen band. Stoichiometric analysis, density functional theory, and finite-difference time-domain simulations show agreement with the experimental results and suggest an induced vacancy concentration of $1\% - 2\%$ along with $(1.2\pm 0.2)\%$ compressive strain, resulting in a non-volatile dielectric permittivity modulation of up to $Δ\varepsilon / \varepsilon \approx 0.15$. Despite these lattice modifications, the lifetimes of thermomechanically tuned PhPs remain high at $1.2 \pm 0.31$ ps. These results establish thermomechanical vacancy engineering as a general strategy to reprogram polaritonic response in vdW crystals, offering a new degree of freedom for embedded, non-volatile nanophotonics.
title Vacancy-Engineered Phonon Polaritons in a van der Waals Crystal
topic Optics
Applied Physics
Chemical Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.05574