Broad spectral tuning of ultra-low-loss polaritons in a van der Waals crystal by intercalation

Javier Taboada-Gutiérrez, Gonzalo Álvarez-Pérez, Jiahua Duan, Weiliang Ma, Kyle Crowley, Iván Prieto, Andrei Bylinkin, Marta Autore, Halyna Volkova, Kenta Kimura, Tsuyoshi Kimura, M. H. Berger, Shaojuan Li, Qiaoliang Bao, Xuan P.A. Gao, Ion Errea, Alexey Y. Nikitin, Rainer Hillenbrand, Javier Martín-Sánchez*, Pablo Alonso-González*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

148 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Phonon polaritons—light coupled to lattice vibrations—in polar van der Waals crystals are promising candidates for controlling the flow of energy on the nanoscale due to their strong field confinement, anisotropic propagation and ultra-long lifetime in the picosecond range1–5. However, the lack of tunability of their narrow and material-specific spectral range—the Reststrahlen band—severely limits their technological implementation. Here, we demonstrate that intercalation of Na atoms in the van der Waals semiconductor α-V2O5 enables a broad spectral shift of Reststrahlen bands, and that the phonon polaritons excited show ultra-low losses (lifetime of 4 ± 1 ps), similar to phonon polaritons in a non-intercalated crystal (lifetime of 6 ± 1 ps). We expect our intercalation method to be applicable to other van der Waals crystals, opening the door for the use of phonon polaritons in broad spectral bands in the mid-infrared domain.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)964-968
Number of pages5
JournalNature Materials
Volume19
Issue number9
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2020
Externally publishedYes

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Broad spectral tuning of ultra-low-loss polaritons in a van der Waals crystal by intercalation'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this