Optical Footprint of Ghost and Leaky Hyperbolic Polaritons

TL;DR

This paper explores how the orientation of crystal anisotropy affects the optical spectra of hyperbolic polaritons, revealing distinct behaviors of ghost and leaky polaritons and enabling control for optical device design.

Contribution

It demonstrates the influence of anisotropy orientation on ATR spectra of hyperbolic polaritons and shows how to manipulate their optical responses for device applications.

Findings

ATR spectra of GHPs show hyperbolic behavior similar to s-SNOM observations

LHPs exhibit lenticular behavior with effects of asymmetry due to cross-polarization

Controlling anisotropy orientation significantly alters polariton optical responses

Abstract

Manipulating hyperbolic polaritons at infrared frequencies has recently garnered interest as it promises to deliver new functionality for next-generation optical and photonic devices. This study investigates the impact of the crystal's anisotropy orientation on the Attenuated Total Reflection (ATR) spectra, more specifically, revealing the optical footprint of elliptical, ghost (GHP) and leaky (LHP) hyperbolic polaritons. Our findings reveal that the ATR spectra of GHPs exhibit a distinct hyperbolic behaviour which is similar to that recently observed using s-SNOM techniques. Similarly, the ATR spectra of LHPs show its clear lenticular behaviour; however, here we are able to discern the effects of large asymmetry due to cross-polarisation conversion when the crystal anisotropy is tilted away from the surface. Furthermore, we demonstrate that by controlling the anisotropy orientation of hyperbolic media it is possible to significantly alter the optical response of these polaritons. Thus, our results provide a foundation for the design of direction-dependent optical devices.