The Tunable Hybrid Surface Phonon and Plasmon Polariton Modes in Boron Nitride Nanotube and Graphene Monolayer Heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper theoretically investigates hybrid surface phonon and plasmon polariton modes in boron nitride nanotube and graphene heterostructures, demonstrating tunability and enhanced modal properties for potential mid-infrared applications.

Contribution

It introduces a novel heterostructure combining BNNTs and graphene that supports tunable hybrid modes with improved confinement and field enhancement.

Findings

Supports single mode transmission with lateral confinement

Modal characteristics can be tuned from SPP-like to SPhP-like

Field enhancement is over three times higher than BNNT alone

Abstract

The hybrid modes incorporating surface phonon polariton (SPhP) modes in boron nitride nanotubes (BNNTs) and surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes in graphene monolayers are theoretically studied. The combination of the 1D BNNTs and 2D graphene monolayer further improves the modal characteristics with electrical tunability. Superior to the graphene monolayers, the proposed heterostructures supports single mode transmission with lateral optical confinement. The modal characteristics can be shifted from SPP-like toward SPhP-like. Both the figure of merit and field enhancement of hybrid modes are improved over 3 times than those of BNNT SPhP modes, which may further enable sub-wavelength mid-infrared applications.