Electrically switchable anisotropic polariton propagation in a ferroelectric van der Waals semiconductor
Source abstract
Abstract
Tailoring of the propagation dynamics of exciton-polaritons in two-dimensional quantum materials has shown extraordinary promise to enable nanoscale control of electromagnetic fields. Varying permittivities along crystal directions within layers of material systems, can lead to an in-plane anisotropic dispersion of polaritons. Exploiting this physics as a control strategy for manipulating the directional propagation of the polaritons is desired and remains elusive. Here we explore the in-plane anisotropic exciton-polariton propagation in SnSe, a group-IV monochalcogenide semiconductor that forms ferroelectric domains and shows room-temperature excitonic behaviour. Exciton-polaritons are launched in SnSe multilayer plates, and their propagation dynamics and dispersion are studied. This propagation of exciton-polaritons allows for nanoscale imaging of the in-plane ferroelectric domains. Finally, we demonstrate the electric switching of the exciton-polaritons in the ferroelectric domains of this complex van der Waals system. The study suggests that systems such as group-IV monochalcogenides could serve as excellent ferroic platforms for actively reconfigurable polaritonic optical devices.
Source: europepmc · Quality: candidate unverified · Source record ↗
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Strong Light-Matter Interactions · 2D Materials and Applications · Plasmonic and Surface Plasmon Research
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
References (35)
Show source-provided references
1. Basov, D. N., Fogler, M. M. & de Abajo, F. J. G. Polaritons in van der Waals materials. Science 354, aag1992 (2016).10.1126/science.aag1992 ↗
2. Zhang, Q. et al. Interface nano-optics with van der Waals polaritons. Nature 597, 187–195 (2021).10.1038/s41586-021-03581-5 ↗
3. Low, T. et al. Polaritons in layered two-dimensional materials. Nat. Mater. 16, 182–194 (2016).10.1038/nmat4792 ↗
4. Fei, Z. et al. Gate-tuning of graphene plasmons revealed by infrared nano-imaging. Nature 487, 82–85 (2012).10.1038/nature11253 ↗
5. Chen, J. et al. Optical nano-imaging of gate-tunable graphene plasmons. Nature 487, 77–81 (2012).10.1038/nature11254 ↗
6. Dai, S. et al. Tunable phonon polaritons in atomically thin van der Waals crystals of boron nitride. Science 343, 1125–1129 (2014).10.1126/science.1246833 ↗
7. Caldwell, J. D. et al. Sub-diffractional volume-confined polaritons in the natural hyperbolic material hexagonal boron nitride. Nat. Commun. 5, 5221 (2014).10.1038/ncomms6221 ↗
8. Hu, F. et al. Imaging exciton–polariton transport in MoSe2 waveguides. Nat. Photonics 11, 356–360 (2017).10.1038/nphoton.2017.65 ↗
9. Fei, Z. et al. Nano-optical imaging of WSe2 waveguide modes revealing light-exciton interactions. Phys. Rev. B. 94, 081402 (2016).10.1103/PhysRevB.94.081402 ↗
10. Ma, W. et al. In-plane anisotropic and ultra-low-loss polaritons in a natural van der Waals crystal. Nature 562, 557–562 (2018).10.1038/s41586-018-0618-9 ↗
11. Zheng, Z. et al. A mid-infrared biaxial hyperbolic van der Waals crystal. Sci. Adv. 5, eaav8690 (2019).10.1126/sciadv.aav8690 ↗
12. Martin, L. W. & Rappe, A. M. Thin-film ferroelectric materials and their applications. Nat. Rev. Mater. 2, 16087 (2016).10.1038/natrevmats.2016.87 ↗
13. Chang, K. et al. Discovery of robust in-plane ferroelectricity in atomic-thick SnTe. Science 353, 274–278 (2016).10.1126/science.aad8609 ↗
14. Higashitarumizu, N. et al. Purely in-plane ferroelectricity in monolayer SnS at room temperature. Nat. Commun. 11, 2428 (2020).10.1038/s41467-020-16291-9 ↗
15. Xiao, J. et al. Intrinsic two-dimensional ferroelectricity with dipole locking. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 227601 (2018).10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.227601 ↗
16. Fei, Z. et al. Ferroelectric switching of a two-dimensional metal. Nature 560, 336–339 (2018).10.1038/s41586-018-0336-3 ↗
17. Wu, M. Two-dimensional van der Waals ferroelectrics: scientific and technological opportunities. ACS Nano 15, 9229–9237 (2021).10.1021/acsnano.0c08483 ↗
18. Chang, K. et al. Microscopic manipulation of ferroelectric domains in SnSe monolayers at room temperature. Nano Lett. 20, 6590–6597 (2020).10.1021/acs.nanolett.0c02357 ↗
19. Fei, R., Kang, W. & Yang, L. Ferroelectricity and phase transitions in monolayer group-IV monochalcogenides. Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 097601 (2016).10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.097601 ↗
20. Shi, G. & Kioupakis, E. Anisotropic spin transport and strong visible-light absorbance in few-layer SnSe and GeSe. Nano Lett. 15, 6926–6931 (2015).10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02861 ↗
21. Meléndez, J. J., González-Romero, R. L. & Antonelli, A. Quasiparticle bands and optical properties of SnSe from an ab initio approach. Comp. Mater. Sci. 152, 107–112 (2018).10.1016/j.commatsci.2018.05.032 ↗
22. Gruverman, A., Alexe, M. & Meier, D. Piezoresponse force microscopy and nanoferroic phenomena. Nat. Commun. 10, 1661 (2019).10.1038/s41467-019-09650-8 ↗
23. Keilmann, F. & Hillenbrand, R. Near-field microscopy by elastic light scattering from a tip. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. A. 362, 787–805 (2004).10.1098/rsta.2003.1347 ↗
24. Zhao, L.-D. et al. Ultralow thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric figure of merit in SnSe crystals. Nature 508, 373–377 (2014).10.1038/nature13184 ↗
25. Nguyen, H. T. et al. Temperature dependence of the dielectric function and critical points of -SnS from 27 to 350 K. Sci. Rep. 10, 18396 (2020).10.1038/s41598-020-75383-0 ↗
26. Beal, A. R., Knights, J. C. & Liang, W. Y. Transmission spectra of some transition metal dichalcogenides. II. Group VIA: trigonal prismatic coordination. J. Phys. C. Solid State Phys. 5, 3540–3551 (1972).10.1088/0022-3719/5/24/016 ↗
27. Schmidt, T., Lischka, K. & Zulehner, W. Excitation-power dependence of the near-band-edge photoluminescence of semiconductors. Phys. Rev. B 45, 8989–8994 (1992).10.1103/PhysRevB.45.8989 ↗
28. Cassabois, G., Valvin, P. & Gil, B. Hexagonal boron nitride is an indirect bandgap semiconductor. Nat. Photonics 10, 262–266 (2016).10.1038/nphoton.2015.277 ↗
29. Zhou, J., Zhang, S. & Li, J. Normal-to-topological insulator martensitic phase transition in group-IV monochalcogenides driven by light. NPG Asia Mater. 12, 2 (2020).10.1038/s41427-019-0188-9 ↗
30. Hu, F. et al. Imaging propagative exciton polaritons in atomically thin WSe2 waveguides. Phys. Rev. B. 100, 121301 (2019).10.1103/PhysRevB.100.121301 ↗
31. Kockum, A. F., Miranowicz, A., Liberato, S. D., Savasta, S. & Nori, F. Ultrastrong coupling between light and matter. Nat. Rev. Phys. 1, 19–40 (2019).10.1038/s42254-018-0006-2 ↗
32. Luo, Y. et al. In situ nanoscale imaging of moiré superlattices in twisted van der Waals heterostructures. Nat. Commun. 11, 4209 (2020).10.1038/s41467-020-18109-0 ↗
33. Rodrigo, D. et al. Mid-infrared plasmonic biosensing with graphene. Science 349, 165–168 (2015).10.1126/science.aab2051 ↗
34. Autore, M. et al. Boron nitride nanoresonators for phonon-enhanced molecular vibrational spectroscopy at the strong coupling limit. Light. Sci. Appl. 7, 17172 (2017).10.1038/lsa.2017.172 ↗
35. Hu, H. et al. Far-field nanoscale infrared spectroscopy of vibrational fingerprints of molecules with graphene plasmons. Nat. Commun. 7, 12334 (2016).10.1038/ncomms12334 ↗