Abstract
Surface phonon–polaritons (SPhPs), collective excitations of photons coupled with phonons in polar crystals, enable strong light–matter interaction and numerous infrared nanophotonic applications. However, as the lattice vibrations are determined by the crystal structure, the dynamical control of SPhPs remains challenging. Here, we realize the all-optical, non-volatile, and reversible switching of SPhPs by controlling the structural phase of a phase-change material (PCM) employed as a switchable dielectric environment. We experimentally demonstrate optical switching of an ultrathin PCM film (down to 7 nm, <λ/1,200) with single laser pulses and detect ultra-confined SPhPs (polariton wavevector kp > 70k0, k0 = 2π/λ) in quartz. Our proof of concept allows the preparation of all-dielectric, rewritable SPhP resonators without the need for complex fabrication methods. With optimized materials and parallelized optical addressing we foresee application potential for switchable infrared nanophotonic elements, for example, imaging elements such as superlenses and hyperlenses, as well as reconfigurable metasurfaces and sensors.
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Acknowledgements
We thank P. Lingnau for GST film sputtering. This work was supported by the Excellence Initiative of the German Federal and State governments, the Ministry of Innovation of North Rhine-Westphalia, and the DFG under SFB 917 (Nanoswitches).
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P.L. and T.T. conceived the concept. P.L. performed the s-SNOM measurements and the theoretical calculations. X.Y. carried out the optical switching and the FTIR experiments. T.W.W.M. performed the simulation. J.H., M.L. and A.-K.U.M. contributed to the optical switching. M.W. and T.T. supervised the project. All the authors discussed the results. P.L., M.W. and T.T. wrote the manuscript.
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Li, P., Yang, X., Maß, T. et al. Reversible optical switching of highly confined phonon–polaritons with an ultrathin phase-change material. Nature Mater 15, 870–875 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4649
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat4649
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