Interferenceless Polarization Splitting through Nanoscale van der Waals Heterostructures

TL;DR

This paper predicts a novel polarization splitting effect at the nanoscale using van der Waals heterostructures, enabling polarization control without interference and with angle insensitivity, advancing nanoscale photonics applications.

Contribution

It introduces a new polarization splitting mechanism in van der Waals heterostructures with unique permittivity properties, independent of incident angles.

Findings

Heterostructures are transparent to TE waves but opaque to TM waves.

The phenomenon is insensitive to incident angles.

Potential applications include polarization beam splitters and epsilon-near-zero devices.

Abstract

The ability to control the polarization of light at the extreme nanoscale has long been a major scientific and technological goal for photonics. Here we predict the phenomenon of polarization splitting through van der Waals heterostructures of nanoscale thickness, such as graphene-hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) heterostructures, at infrared frequencies. The underlying mechanism is that the designed heterostructures possess an effective relative permittivity with its in-plane (out-of-plane) component being unity (zero); such heterostructures are transparent to the transverse-electric (TE) waves while opaque to the transverse-magnetic (TM) waves, without resorting to the interference effect. Moreover, the predicted phenomenon is insensitive to incident angles. Our work thus indicates that van der Waals heterostructures are a promising nanoscale platform for the manipulation of light, such as the design of polarization beam nano-splitters and epsilon-near-zero materials, and the exploration of superscattering for TM waves while zero scattering for TE waves from deep-subwavelength nanostructures.