Modulation of polaritons amplitude by two-dimensional dielectric junctions in the light of synchrotron infrared nanospectroscopy

Abstract

Two-dimensional materials (2Ds) represent one of the greatest advances in material science and engineering in the last decade and have the potential to remain relevant for at least another decade. Currently, it is possible to find specific options of 2Ds for each modern technological application, since a vast catalog of these covers from ultra-thin semiconductors with varied band gaps (Black Phosphorus and Transition Metals Dichalcogenides) to atomically thin semimetals (graphene) and ultra-flat insulators (hexagonal Boron Nitride, Talc), among others. Among these, 2Ds polar crystals, such as hexagonal Boron Nitride (hBN), have presented extraordinary properties in the confinement and transport of light at the nanoscale, being today the most promising material for the development of nano-photonic devices. This Master's project will investigate light transport properties in nanometer waveguides composed of hBN and graphene in an architecture in which it will be possible to regulate the mid-IR polaritons waves amplitude in hBN by the tuning of the Fermi level of the graphene. For this, the project will provide numerical modeling, fabrication and characterization by Synchrotron Infrared Nanospectroscopy of an amplitude modulator based on hBN-graphene-hBN. These modulators are already theoretically foreseen in the literature, however, there is no experimental proof. The main objective of this proposal is to experimentally develop this modulator. The project will be held at the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory in collaboration with the University of Minnesota and Unicamp. (AU)