Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling

Zhe Wang; Vijith Kalathingal; Thanh Xuan Hoang; Hong-Son Chu; Christian A. Nijhuis

doi:10.1038/s41377-021-00659-7

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Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling

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- Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling
- Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling
- LSA 2021年10卷第12期页码：2387-2398
- Affiliations：
  
  1.Department of Chemistry, National University of Singapore, 3 Science Drive 3, Singapore 117543, Singapore
  2.Centre for Advanced 2D Materials, National University of Singapore, 6 Science Drive 2, Singapore 117564, Singapore
  3.Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, 4 Engineering Drive 3, Singapore 117583, Singapore
  4.Department of Electronics and Photonics, Institute of High Performance Computing, A*STAR (Agency for Science, Technology and Research), 1 Fusionopolis Way, Singapore 138632, Singapore
  5.Hybrid Materials for Opto-Electronics Group, Department of Molecules and Materials, MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology and Center for Brain-Inspired Nano Systems, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Twente, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands
- Author bio：
  
  Vijith Kalathingal (vijith.k@nus.edu.sg)
  Christian A. Nijhuis (c.a.nijhuis@utwente.nl)
- Funds：
- DOI：10.1038/s41377-021-00659-7
  中图分类号：
- 纸质出版日期：2021-12-31，
  
  网络出版日期：2021-11-08，
  
  收稿日期：2021-02-08，
  
  修回日期：2021-09-13，
  
  录用日期：2021-10-08
- Accepted：
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Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling[J]. LSA, 2021,10(12):2387-2398.

Wang, Z. et al. Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling. Light: Science & Applications, 10, 2387-2398 (2021).
Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling[J]. LSA, 2021,10(12):2387-2398. DOI： 10.1038/s41377-021-00659-7.

Wang, Z. et al. Optical Anisotropy in van der Waals materials: Impact on Direct Excitation of Plasmons and Photons by Quantum Tunneling. Light: Science & Applications, 10, 2387-2398 (2021). DOI： 10.1038/s41377-021-00659-7.

摘要

Abstract

Inelastic quantum mechanical tunneling of electrons across plasmonic tunnel junctions can lead to surface plasmon polariton (SPP) and photon emission. So far

the optical properties of such junctions have been controlled by changing the shape

or the type of the material

of the electrodes

primarily with the aim to improve SPP or photon emission efficiencies. Here we show that by tuning the tunneling barrier itself

the efficiency of the inelastic tunneling rates can be improved by a factor of 3. We exploit the anisotropic nature of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) as the tunneling barrier material in Au//hBN//graphene tunnel junctions where the Au electrode also serves as a plasmonic strip waveguide. As this junction constitutes an optically transparent hBN–graphene heterostructure on a glass substrate

it forms an open plasmonic system where the SPPs are directly coupled to the dedicated strip waveguide and photons outcouple to the far field. We experimentally and analytically show that the photon emission rate per tunneling electron is significantly improved (~ ×3) in Au//hBN//graphene tunnel junction due to the enhancement in the local density of optical states (LDOS) arising from the hBN anisotropy. With the dedicated strip waveguide

SPP outcoupling efficiency is quantified and is found to be ~80% stronger than the radiative outcoupling in Au//hBN//graphene due to the high LDOS of the SPP decay channel associated with the inelastic tunneling. The new insights elucidated here deepen our understanding of plasmonic tunnel junctions beyond the isotropic models with enhanced LDOS.

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references

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