Broadband dielectric permittivity tensor of muscovite for next-generation all van der Waals photonic components

TL;DR

This paper characterizes muscovite's broadband dielectric tensor, demonstrating its potential as a low-loss, low-index platform for ultrathin nanophotonics and designing vdW heterostructures with high optical efficiency.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive broadband dielectric tensor of muscovite, enabling its use in next-generation all-vdW nanophotonic components.

Findings

Muscovite exhibits low refractive index and negligible extinction across UV to NIR.

Designed vdW heterostructures with high efficiency optical components.

Muscovite's properties enable ultrathin, broadband nanophotonic devices.

Abstract

We report a comprehensive determination of the broadband dielectric permittivity tensor of van der Waals (vdW) muscovite also referred to as mica, establishing it as a low-index low-loss platform for ultrathin nanophotonics. Resolving its anisotropic vibrational response and extracting accurate tensor components across broadband ultraviolet (UV) to near-infrared (NIR) spectral region, we show that vdW muscovite exhibits consistently low refractive indices negligible extinction and weak in-plane anisotropy allowing its effective treatment as a uniaxial dielectric in thin-film limits. Leveraging these properties, we design muscovite based vdW heterostructures pairing it MoS2, engineering few-layer distributed Bragg reflectors (DBR) and dichroic beam splitters (DBS) with high efficiency robust optical performance in a broad NIR spectral region achieved with sub-micron thicknesses. Our findings spotlight the high significance of low-index extinctionless vdW crystals, positioning muscovite as a highly perspective atomically flat building block for next-generation, broadband, all-vdW nanophotonic components.