Tunable plasmonic reflection by bound 1D electron states in a 2D Dirac metal

We show that surface plasmons of a two-dimensional Dirac metal such as graphene can be reflected by line-like perturbations hosting one-dimensional electron states. The reflection originates from a strong enhancement of the local optical conductivity caused by optical transitions involving these bound states. We propose that the bound states can be systematically created, controlled, and liquidated by an ultranarrow electrostatic gate. Using infrared nanoimaging, we obtain experimental evidence for the locally enhanced conductivity of graphene induced by a carbon nanotube gate, which supports this theoretical concept.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures, submitted to PR

Current oscillations in Vanadium Dioxide: evidence for electrically triggered percolation avalanches

In this work, we experimentally and theoretically explore voltage controlled oscillations occurring in micro-beams of vanadium dioxide. These oscillations are a result of the reversible insulator to metal phase transition in vanadium dioxide. Examining the structure of the observed oscillations in detail, we propose a modified percolative-avalanche model which allows for voltage-triggering. This model captures the periodicity and waveshape of the oscillations as well as several other key features. Importantly, our modeling shows that while temperature plays a critical role in the vanadium dioxide phase transition, electrically induced heating cannot act as the primary instigator of the oscillations in this configuration. This realization leads us to identify electric field as the most likely candidate for driving the phase transition

Infrared nanoscopy of Dirac plasmons at the graphene-SiO2 interface

We report on infrared (IR) nanoscopy of 2D plasmon excitations of Dirac fermions in graphene. This is achieved by confining mid-IR radiation at the apex of a nanoscale tip: an approach yielding two orders of magnitude increase in the value of in-plane component of incident wavevector q compared to free space propagation. At these high wavevectors, the Dirac plasmon is found to dramatically enhance the near-field interaction with mid-IR surface phonons of SiO2 substrate. Our data augmented by detailed modeling establish graphene as a new medium supporting plasmonic effects that can be controlled by gate voltage.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Phonon Polaritons in Monolayers of Hexagonal Boron Nitride.

Phonon polaritons in van der Waals materials reveal significant confinement accompanied with long propagation length: important virtues for tasks pertaining to the control of light and energy flow at the nanoscale. While previous studies of phonon polaritons have relied on relatively thick samples, here reported is the first observation of surface phonon polaritons in single atomic layers and bilayers of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Using antenna-based near-field microscopy, propagating surface phonon polaritons in mono- and bilayer hBN microcrystals are imaged. Phonon polaritons in monolayer hBN are confined in a volume about one million times smaller than the free-space photons. Both the polariton dispersion and their wavelength-thickness scaling law are altered compared to those of hBN bulk counterparts. These changes are attributed to phonon hardening in monolayer-thick crystals. The data reported here have bearing on applications of polaritons in metasurfaces and ultrathin optical elements

Plasmonic tuning of aluminum doped zinc oxide nanostructures by atomic layer deposition

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109627/1/pssr201409359.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/109627/2/pssr201409359-sup-0001-figuresS1-S10_tableS1.pd

Spectroscopy of metamaterials from infrared to optical frequencies

We review both the theoretical electromagnetic response and the spectroscopic measurements of metamaterials. To critically examine published results for metamaterial structures operating in the range from terahertz to optical frequencies, we focus on protocols allowing one to extract the optical constants from experimental observables. We discuss the complexity of this task when applied to metamaterials exhibiting electric, magnetic, and magneto-optical response. The general theory of the electromagnetic response of such systems is presented and methods are described. Finally, we briefly overview possible solutions for implementing metamaterials with tunable resonant behavior. © 2006 Optical Society of America OCIS codes: 160.3820, 300.6270, 120.2130, 160.4760. 1

Electric-Field-Driven Nano-Oxidation Trimming Of Silicon Microrings And Interferometers

Nanoscale disorder results in severe spectral misalignment of silicon microring resonators and Mach-Zehnder interferometers. We correct for such effects using electric-field-induced waveguide nano-oxidation, demonstrating a tuning wavelength range of several nanometers and 0:002nm resolution without line shape degradation. Fieldinduced nano-oxidation is a permanent and precise technique and requires no new materials or high-temperature processing. © 2011 Optical Society of America

Anisotropic electrodynamics of type-II Weyl semimetal candidate WTe2

Volume 95, Issue 24, 30 June 2017, Article number 245140 .© 2017 American Physical Society. We investigated the ab-plane optical properties of single crystals of WTe2 for light polarized parallel and perpendicular to the W-chain axis over a broad range of frequency and temperature. At far-infrared frequencies, we observed a striking dependence of the reflectance edge on light polarization, corresponding to anisotropy of the carrier effective masses. We quantitatively studied the temperature dependence of the plasma frequency, revealing a modest increase of the effective mass anisotropy in the ab plane upon cooling. We also found strongly anisotropic interband transitions persisting to high photon energies. These results were analyzed by comparison with ab initio calculations. The calculated and measured plasma frequencies agree to within 10% for both polarizations, while the calculated interband conductivity shows excellent agreement with experiment

Mechanical Detection and Imaging of Hyperbolic Phonon Polaritons in Hexagonal Boron Nitride.

Mid-infrared nanoimaging and spectroscopy of two-dimensional (2D) materials have been limited so far to scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) experiments, where light from the sample is scattered by a metallic-coated atomic force microscope (AFM) tip interacting with the material at the nanoscale. These experiments have recently allowed imaging of plasmon polaritons in graphene as well as hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). Here we show that the high mechanical sensitivity of an AFM cantilever can be exploited for imaging hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hBN. In our imaging process, the lattice vibrations of hBN micrometer-sized flakes are locally enhanced by the launched phonon polaritons. These enhanced vibrations are coupled to the AFM tip in contact with the sample surface and recorded during scanning. Imaging resolution of Δ/20 is shown (Δ being the polaritonic fringes' separation distance), comparable to the best resolution in s-SNOM. Importantly, this detection mechanism is free from light background, and it is in fact the first photonless detection of phonon polaritons