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arXiv · 2105.07710

Enhanced Light-Matter Interaction in B-10 Monoisotopic Boron Nitride Infrared Nanoresonators

Abstract

Phonon-polaritons, mixed excitations of light coupled to lattice vibrations (phonons), are emerging as a powerful platform for nanophotonic applications. This is because of their ability to concentrate light into extreme sub-wavelength scales and because of their longer phonon lifetimes than their plasmonic counterparts. In this work, the infrared properties of phonon-polaritonic nanoresonators made of monoisotopic B-10 hexagonal-boron nitride (h-BN) are explored, a material with increased phonon-polariton lifetimes compared to naturally abundant h-BN due to reduced photon scattering from randomly distributed isotopes. An average relative improvement of 50% in the nanoresonators Q factor is obtained with respect of nanoresonators made of naturally abundant h-BN. Moreover, the monoisotopic h-BN nano-ribbon arrays are used to sense nanometric-thick films of molecules, both through surface-enhanced absorption spectroscopy and refractive index sensing. In addition, strong coupling is achieved between a molecular vibration and the phonon-polariton resonance in monoisotopic h-BN ribbons.

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M. Autore, I. Dolado, P. Li, R. Esteban, F. Alfaro, A. Atxabal, S. Liu, J. Edgar, S. Velez, F. Casanova, L. Hueso, J. Aizpurua, R. Hillenbrand. 2021-05-17. Enhanced Light-Matter Interaction in B-10 Monoisotopic Boron Nitride Infrared Nanoresonators. https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.202001958

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