Sub-diffractional volume-confined polaritons in the natural hyperbolic material hexagonal boron nitride

Joshua D. Caldwell (), Andrey V. Kretinin, Yiguo Chen, Vincenzo Giannini, Michael M. Fogler, Yan Francescato, Chase T. Ellis, Joseph G. Tischler, Colin R. Woods, Alexander J. Giles, Minghui Hong, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi, Stefan A. Maier and Kostya S. Novoselov
Additional contact information
Joshua D. Caldwell: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
Andrey V. Kretinin: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
Yiguo Chen: The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London
Vincenzo Giannini: The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London
Michael M. Fogler: University of California San Diego
Yan Francescato: The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London
Chase T. Ellis: NRC Postdoctoral Fellow (residing at NRL)
Joseph G. Tischler: U.S. Naval Research Laboratory
Colin R. Woods: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester
Alexander J. Giles: NRC Postdoctoral Fellow (residing at NRL)
Minghui Hong: National University of Singapore
Kenji Watanabe: National Institute for Materials Science
Takashi Taniguchi: National Institute for Materials Science
Stefan A. Maier: The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London
Kostya S. Novoselov: School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Strongly anisotropic media, where the principal components of the dielectric tensor have opposite signs, are called hyperbolic. Such materials exhibit unique nanophotonic properties enabled by the highly directional propagation of slow-light modes localized at deeply sub-diffractional length scales. While artificial hyperbolic metamaterials have been demonstrated, they suffer from high plasmonic losses and require complex nanofabrication, which in turn induces size-dependent limitations on optical confinement. The low-loss, mid-infrared, natural hyperbolic material hexagonal boron nitride is an attractive alternative. Here we report on three-dimensionally confined ‘hyperbolic polaritons’ in boron nitride nanocones that support four series (up to the seventh order) modes in two spectral bands. The resonant modes obey the predicted aspect ratio dependence and exhibit high-quality factors (Q up to 283) in the strong confinement regime (up to λ/86). These observations assert hexagonal boron nitride as a promising platform for studying novel regimes of light–matter interactions and nanophotonic device engineering.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms6221

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