Rich hybridized-polarization surface phonon polaritons in hyperbolic metamaterials

We investigated hybridized-polarization surface phonon polaritons (HSPhPs) of transversely truncated a metamaterial (MM) that consists of alternating ionic-crystal and ordinary-dielectric layers. We predicted five HSPhPs in the reststrahlen frequency window of ionic-crystal layers, which belong to five different types, respectively. One is of Dyakonov-like type and another is traditional-like. The other three HSPhPs are of new type. We used a numerical-simulating method of attenuated total reflection (ATR) measurements to examine them. The obtained ATR spectra also demonstrate that they are observable and exhibit their polarization features. These results expand the potential-application space of phononics and photonics in the infrared to the terahertz range.