Misalignment between the Directions of Propagation and Decay of Nanoscale-confined Polaritons

Fuente: arXiv
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Autores principales: Voronin, Kirill V., Álvarez-Pérez, Gonzalo, Martín-Luengo, Aitana Tarazaga, Alonso-González, Pablo, Nikitin, Alexey Y.
Formato: Preprint
Publicado: 2025
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author Voronin, Kirill V.
Álvarez-Pérez, Gonzalo
Martín-Luengo, Aitana Tarazaga
Alonso-González, Pablo
Nikitin, Alexey Y.
author_facet Voronin, Kirill V.
Álvarez-Pérez, Gonzalo
Martín-Luengo, Aitana Tarazaga
Alonso-González, Pablo
Nikitin, Alexey Y.
contents Anisotropic van der Waals crystals have gained significant attention in nanooptics and optoelectronics due to their unconventional optical properties, including anomalous reflection, canalization, and nanofocusing. Polaritons -- light coupled to matter excitations -- govern these effects, with their complex wavevector encoding key parameters such as wavelength, lifetime, field confinement, and propagation direction. However, determining the complex wavevector, particularly the misalignment between its real and imaginary parts, has remained a challenge due to the complexity of the dispersion relation. Here, using near-field nanoimaging, we introduce a self-consistent method to extract the complex wavevector from polaritonic near-field images. We experimentally reveal a strong misalignment between the real and imaginary components of the wavevector, significantly impacting the interpretation of near-field experiments. Our findings establish a new paradigm for optical nanoimaging, providing a robust framework for accurately extracting polariton parameters and advancing the broader field of nanooptics of lossy anisotropic crystals.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2508_15993
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Misalignment between the Directions of Propagation and Decay of Nanoscale-confined Polaritons
Voronin, Kirill V.
Álvarez-Pérez, Gonzalo
Martín-Luengo, Aitana Tarazaga
Alonso-González, Pablo
Nikitin, Alexey Y.
Optics
Anisotropic van der Waals crystals have gained significant attention in nanooptics and optoelectronics due to their unconventional optical properties, including anomalous reflection, canalization, and nanofocusing. Polaritons -- light coupled to matter excitations -- govern these effects, with their complex wavevector encoding key parameters such as wavelength, lifetime, field confinement, and propagation direction. However, determining the complex wavevector, particularly the misalignment between its real and imaginary parts, has remained a challenge due to the complexity of the dispersion relation. Here, using near-field nanoimaging, we introduce a self-consistent method to extract the complex wavevector from polaritonic near-field images. We experimentally reveal a strong misalignment between the real and imaginary components of the wavevector, significantly impacting the interpretation of near-field experiments. Our findings establish a new paradigm for optical nanoimaging, providing a robust framework for accurately extracting polariton parameters and advancing the broader field of nanooptics of lossy anisotropic crystals.
title Misalignment between the Directions of Propagation and Decay of Nanoscale-confined Polaritons
topic Optics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.15993