arXiv subjects

Tzu-Yu Peng

Publications and source records attributed to Tzu-Yu Peng.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Anisotropic hot carrier relaxation mediated by electron phonon scattering in TiN thin films

Crystal orientations can shape the ultrafast energy relaxations of transition-metal nitride thin films. Here, we investigate the orientation-dependent electron-phonon (e-ph) mediated relaxation in titanium nitride (TiN) thin films along the [100], [110], and [111] directions by combining first-principles calculations with ultrafast pump-probe transient absorption spectroscopy. Using maximally localized Wannier functions, we evaluate e-ph quasiparticle scattering lifetimes near the Fermi level and identify a clear anisotropy: The TiN [111] orientation exhibits a longer e-ph scattering lifetime (15.96 fs) than [100] (13.69 fs) and [110] (11.12 fs), indicating reduced intrinsic e-ph scattering strength. Furthermore, we grew quasi-epitaxial, orientation-controlled TiN thin films on MgO substrates. Pump-probe measurements reveals that the population-level relaxation (hot-electron cooling) time also depends on orientations, with [111] films showing a significantly slower decay (110 fs) than [100] (90 fs) and [110] (80 fs). We emphasize that the calculated few-femtosecond scattering lifetimes and the measured few-hundred-femtosecond cooling time respectively represent single-event scattering and collective cooling, yet they exhibit consistent trends. These results demonstrate that crystallographic orientation provides a practical and powerful route to tune e-ph-governed relaxation in TiN thin films, offering essential design guidelines for refractory plasmonic and energy-conversion platforms.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2025

High-Temperature-Resilient Hyperbolicity in a Mixed-Dimensional Superlattice

Hyperbolic superlattices are used for sub-wavelength focusing, cloaking, and optical thermal management. Typically, these superlattices are constructed of layers of noble metals and insulators. Despite these systems displaying excellent optical performance, the poor thermal stability of noble metals prevents their application in high-temperature environments. Instead, CMOS-compatible transition-metal nitrides are often substituted for noble metals in plasmonic systems since they have high thermal stability at the expense of optical properties. Here, we fabricate hyperbolic titanium nitride (TiN)/hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) superlattices with 3D-2D interfaces. The mixed-dimensional nature of the interfaces prevents atoms from diffusing across the interface at high temperatures. The hyperbolicity of the superlattice is found to be unaffected by annealing at high temperature (800 oC for 10 hrs), and TiN/hBN is found to have a larger hyperbolic figure of merit than similar superlattices.

physics.optics↗

arXiv2024

> 2{\pi} Phase Modulation using Exciton-Polaritons in a Two-Dimensional Superlattice

Active metamaterials promise to enable arbitrary, temporal control over the propagation of wavefronts of light for applications such as beam steering, optical communication modulators, and holograms. This has been done in the past using patterned silicon photonics to locally control the phase of light such that the metasurface acts as a large number of wavelets. Although phase modulation only requires refractive index modulation when the interaction length is on the order of the wavelength, this is not enough to significantly modulate the phase of light in flatland. Instead, phase modulation is achieved using a resonant mode such as a plasmon or high-Q cavity mode that enable light to accumulate a large amount of phase over a short distance and coupling it to an active material that modulates the light-matter interactions. Here, we report that electrostatic doping can modulate the light-matter interaction strength of a two-dimensional WS2 based multi quantum well (MQW) structure going from strongly-coupled, phase-accumulating exciton-polaritons to weakly-coupled exciton-trion-polaritons. As a result of this transition, 2.02{\pi} radians of phase modulation is observed using spectroscopic ellipsometry. This result demonstrates the potential of the MQW structure as a compact, lightweight electro-optical modulators for LiDAR and optical communications in the red region of visible spectrum.

physics.optics↗