TY - JOUR
T1 - Planar refraction and lensing of highly confined polaritons in anisotropic media
AU - Duan, J.
AU - Álvarez-Pérez, G.
AU - Tresguerres-Mata, A. I.F.
AU - Taboada-Gutiérrez, J.
AU - Voronin, K. V.
AU - Bylinkin, A.
AU - Chang, B.
AU - Xiao, S.
AU - Liu, S.
AU - Edgar, J. H.
AU - Martín, J. I.
AU - Volkov, V. S.
AU - Hillenbrand, R.
AU - Martín-Sánchez, J.
AU - Nikitin, A. Y.
AU - Alonso-González, P.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021, The Author(s).
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Refraction between isotropic media is characterized by light bending towards the normal to the boundary when passing from a low- to a high-refractive-index medium. However, refraction between anisotropic media is a more exotic phenomenon which remains barely investigated, particularly at the nanoscale. Here, we visualize and comprehensively study the general case of refraction of electromagnetic waves between two strongly anisotropic (hyperbolic) media, and we do it with the use of nanoscale-confined polaritons in a natural medium: α-MoO3. The refracted polaritons exhibit non-intuitive directions of propagation as they traverse planar nanoprisms, enabling to unveil an exotic optical effect: bending-free refraction. Furthermore, we develop an in-plane refractive hyperlens, yielding foci as small as λp/6, being λp the polariton wavelength (λ0/50 compared to the wavelength of free-space light). Our results set the grounds for planar nano-optics in strongly anisotropic media, with potential for effective control of the flow of energy at the nanoscale.
AB - Refraction between isotropic media is characterized by light bending towards the normal to the boundary when passing from a low- to a high-refractive-index medium. However, refraction between anisotropic media is a more exotic phenomenon which remains barely investigated, particularly at the nanoscale. Here, we visualize and comprehensively study the general case of refraction of electromagnetic waves between two strongly anisotropic (hyperbolic) media, and we do it with the use of nanoscale-confined polaritons in a natural medium: α-MoO3. The refracted polaritons exhibit non-intuitive directions of propagation as they traverse planar nanoprisms, enabling to unveil an exotic optical effect: bending-free refraction. Furthermore, we develop an in-plane refractive hyperlens, yielding foci as small as λp/6, being λp the polariton wavelength (λ0/50 compared to the wavelength of free-space light). Our results set the grounds for planar nano-optics in strongly anisotropic media, with potential for effective control of the flow of energy at the nanoscale.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110607619&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41467-021-24599-3
DO - 10.1038/s41467-021-24599-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 34267201
AN - SCOPUS:85110607619
SN - 2041-1723
VL - 12
JO - Nature Communications
JF - Nature Communications
IS - 1
M1 - 4325
ER -