The Effect of Adjacent Materials on the Propagation of Phonon Polaritons in Hexagonal Boron Nitride

Kris S. Kim, Daniel Trajanoski, Kevin Ho, Leonid Gilburd, Aniket Maiti, Luuk van der Velden, Sissi de Beer, Gilbert C. Walker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)
58 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In order to apply the ability of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) to confine energy in the form of hyperbolic phonon polariton (HPhP) modes in photonic-electronic devices, approaches to finely control and leverage the sensitivity of these propagating waves must be investigated. Here, we show that by surrounding hBN with materials of lower/higher dielectric responses, such as air and silicon, lower/higher surface momenta of HPhPs can be achieved. Furthermore, an alternative method for preparing thin hBN crystals with minimum contamination is presented, which provides opportunities to study the sensitivity of the damping mechanism of HPhPs on adsorbed materials. Infrared scanning near-field optical microscopy (IR-SNOM) results suggest that the reflections at the upper and lower hBN interfaces are primary causes of the damping of HPhPs, and that the damping coefficients of propagating waves are highly sensitive to adjacent layers, suggesting opportunities for sensor applications.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)2902–2908
JournalThe journal of physical chemistry letters
Volume8
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 12 Jun 2017

Keywords

  • 2023 OA procedure

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