Special Condensed Matter Physics & LMI seminar: Shedding nano-light on quantum materials

Over the last decade, our group introduced and deployed a fundamentally different form of optical imaging well suited to extend infrared and optical experiments to the nano-scale. We no longer use free space photons to inquire into the new physics of quantum materials. Instead, our imaging agent is a hybrid quasiparticle know as a polariton that is comprised of a photon and material excitations. Polaritons are extremely compact beating the diffraction by several orders of magnitude. Yet they are mobile and can surf along the sample surfaces over macroscopic distances. As we track „nano-light“ polaritonic waves with home-built tools, we learn about the physics of quantum materials supporting these waves. In this talk, I will discuss several examples of progress with the understanding of the electronic phenomena and of topological effects in solids all empowered by nano-light. 

References: 

A. J. Sternbach, S. H. Chae, S. Latini, A. A. Rikhter, Y. Shao, B. Li, D. Rhodes, B. Kim,

P. J. Schuck, X. Xu, X.-Y. Zhu, R. D. Averitt, J. Hone, M. M. Fogler, A. Rubio, and D. N. Basov, “Programmable hyperbolic polaritons in van der Waals semiconductors,” Science 371, 617 (2021).

Yinming Shao, Aaron J. Sternbach, Brian S. Y. Kim, Andrey A. Rikhter, Xinyi Xu, Umberto De Giovannini, Ran Jing, Sang Hoon Chae, Zhiyuan Sun, Seng Huat Lee, Yanglin Zhu, Zhiqiang Mao, James C. Hone, Raquel Queiroz, Andrew J. Millis, P. James Schuck, Angel Rubio, Michael M. Fogler, D. N. Basov “Infrared plasmons propagate through a hyperbolic nodal metal” Science Adv. 8, eadd6169 (2022)