Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 5, 2025

Measuring Magnetically-Tuned Ferroelectric Polarization in Liquid Crystals
Published on: August 15, 2018
Image polaritons in van der Waals crystals
Sergey G Menabde1, Jacob T Heiden1, Joel D Cox2,3
1School of Electrical Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon 34141, Korea.
Abstract:
Polaritonic modes in low-dimensional materials enable strong light-matter interactions and the manipulation of light on nanometer length scales. Very recently, a new class of polaritons has attracted considerable interest in nanophotonics: image polaritons in van der Waals crystals, manifesting when a polaritonic material is in close proximity to a highly conductive metal, so that the polaritonic mode couples with its mirror image. Image modes constitute an appealing nanophotonic platform, providing an unparalleled degree of optical field compression into nanometric volumes while exhibiting lower normalized propagation loss compared to conventional polariton modes in van der Waals crystals on nonmetallic substrates. Moreover, the ultra-compressed image modes provide access to the nonlocal regime of light-matter interaction. In this review, we systematically overview the young, yet rapidly growing, field of image polaritons. More specifically, we discuss the dispersion properties of image modes, showcase the diversity of the available polaritons in various van der Waals materials, and highlight experimental breakthroughs owing to the unique properties of image polaritons.
Related Concept Videos
Potential Due to a Polarized Object
Dielectric Polarization in a Capacitor
Van der Waals Interactions
Induced Electric Dipoles
Since the absolute value of potential energy holds no physical meaning, its zero value can be chosen as per...
Van der Waals Equation
First, the attractive forces between molecules, which are stronger at higher densities and reduce the pressure, are considered by adding to the pressure a term equal to the square of the molar density multiplied by a positive coefficient a. Second, the volume...
X-ray Crystallography
Diffraction
Diffraction is the change in the direction of travel experienced by an electromagnetic wave when it encounters a physical barrier whose dimensions are comparable to those of the wavelength of the light. X-rays are electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths about as long as the distance between neighboring...

