Ultrabroadband nanocavity of hyperbolic phonon polaritons in 1D-like {\alpha}-MoO3

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that nanobelts of {}-MoO3 support hyperbolic phonon polaritons with Fabry-Perot resonances, enabling manipulation of IR light for nanophotonic applications through experimental, theoretical, and numerical methods.

Contribution

It introduces {}-MoO3 nanobelts as a natural low-dimensional platform supporting hyperbolic phonon polaritons with unique cavity properties in the IR range.

Findings

Observation of Fabry-Perot resonances in {}-MoO3 nanobelts

Anisotropic propagation of hyperbolic phonon polaritons

Experimental, theoretical, and numerical agreement on polariton behavior

Abstract

The exploitation of phonon-polaritons in nanostructured materials offers a pathway to manipulate infrared (IR) light for nanophotonic applications. Notably, hyperbolic phonons polaritons (HP2) in polar bidimensional crystals have been used to demonstrate strong electromagnetic field confinement, ultraslow group velocities, and long lifetimes (~ up to 8 ps). Here we present nanobelts of {\alpha}-phase molybdenum trioxide ({\alpha}-MoO3) as a low-dimensional medium supporting HP2 modes in the mid- and far-IR ranges. By real-space nanoimaging, with IR illuminations provided by synchrotron and tunable lasers, we observe that such HP2 response happens via formation of Fabry-Perot resonances. We remark an anisotropic propagation which critically depends on the frequency range. Our findings are supported by the convergence of experiment, theory, and numerical simulations. Our work shows that the low dimensionality of natural nanostructured crystals, like {\alpha}-MoO3 nanobelts, provides an attractive platform to study polaritonic light-matter interactions and offer appealing cavity properties that could be harnessed in future designs of compact nanophotonic devices.