Abstract
We investigate optical polariton modes supported by subwavelength-thick degenerately doped semiconductor nanolayers (e.g. indium tin oxide) on glass in the epsilon-near-zero (ENZ) regime. The dispersions of the radiative (R, on the left of the light line) and non-radiative (NR, on the right of the light line) ENZ polariton modes are experimentally measured and theoretically analyzed through the transfer matrix method and the complex-frequency/real-wavenumber analysis, which are in remarkable agreement. We observe directional near-perfect absorption using the Kretschmann geometry for incidence conditions close to the NR-ENZ polariton mode dispersion. Along with field enhancement, this provides us with an unexplored pathway to enhance nonlinear optical processes and to open up directions for ultrafast, tunable thermal emission.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 18782-18789 |
| Number of pages | 8 |
| Journal | Optics Express |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue number | 16 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 8 2016 |
| Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors acknowledge fruitful discussions with Dr. Michael B. Sinclair, Sandia National Laboratories, and Prof. Francois Marquier, Institut d'Optique, France. Parts of this work were supported by Office of Basic Energy Science, Division of Materials Science and Engineering. This work was performed, in part, at the Center for Integrated Nanotechnologies, a U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences user facility. Portions of this work were supported by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development program at Sandia National Laboratories. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000. This research was performed while D.d.C. held a National Research Council Research Associateship award at the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Research Development and Engineering Center.