Black Phosphorus Plasmonics: Anisotropic Elliptical Propagation and Nonlocality-Induced Canalization

Abstract

We investigate unusual surface plasmons polariton (SPP) propagation and light-matter interactions in ultrathin black phosphorus (BP) films, a 2D material that exhibits exotic electrical and physical properties due to its extremely anisotropic crystal structure. Recently, it has been speculated that the ultra-confined surface plasmons supported by BP may present various topologies of wave propagation bands, ranging from anisotropic elliptic to hyperbolic, across the mid- and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. By carefully analyzing the natural nonlocal anisotropic optical conductivity of BP, derived using the Kubo formalism and an effective low-energy Hamiltonian, we demonstrate here that the SPP wavenumber cutoff imposed by nonlocality prohibits that they acquire an arbitrary hyperbolic topology, forcing operation in the canalization regime. The resulting nonlocality-induced canalization presents interesting properties, as it is inherently broadband, enables large light-matter interactions in the very near field, and allows extreme device miniaturization. We also determine fundamental bounds to the confinement of BP plasmons, which are significantly weaker than for graphene, thus allowing a larger local density of states. Our results confirm the potential of BP as a promising reconfigurable plasmonic platform, with exciting applications, such as planar hyperlenses, optoelectronic components, imaging, and communication systems.

16 pages, 8 figures

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• Roadmap on Nonlocality in Photonic Materials and Metamaterials
• Anisotropic effects in two-dimensional materials
• Hyperbolic plasmons in massive tilted 2D Dirac materials
• Anisotropic Infrared Response and Orientation-dependent Strain-tuning of the Electronic Structure in Nb2SiTe4
• Imaging Anisotropic Waveguide Exciton Polaritons in Tin Sulfide
• Plasmonic modes at inclined edges of anisotropic 2D materials
• Nonlocal electrodynamics of two-dimensional anisotropic magneto-plasmons
• Two-dimensional optical plasmons with mixed polarization on anisotropic resonant metasurface
• Field canalization using anisotropic 2D plasmonics