We think of metals as shiny when we see them. Common metallic materials will bounce back any light that hits them. While metals can be used to conduct electricity and heat, they aren't usually used to conduct light.
Researchers in the field of quantum materials are challenging expectations about how things should behave. A metal capable of conducting light has been described in a new research. Basov said that the results defy common conceptions.
Basov moved his lab from the University of California San Diego to New York in 2016 and Yinming Shao was the lead researcher. Shao has been looking at the optical properties of a semimetal material. The first Dirac material discovered in 2004 was shown to have electronic similarities with Zr SiSe in 2020. Electronic correlations that are rare for Dirac semimetals have been enhanced by Zr SiSe.
Zr SiSe is a three-dimensional metallic crystal made up of layers that behave differently in the in- and out-of-plane directions. One layer is like a metal while the next is like an insulation. Light interacts with metal at certain frequencies when that occurs. It can travel inside the material in a pattern instead of bouncing off.
Shao and his colleagues at Columbia and The University of California, San Diego observed the zigzag movement of light through Zr SiSe samples. The result is plasmons, which are hybrid quasiparticles of light and electrons.
The team was able to observe plasmons in this material because of the unique range of electron energy levels in Zr SiSe. Michael Fogler's group at UC San Diego was one of the groups that received theoretical support. They are also affiliated with the Flatiron Institute.
Researchers can see features larger than the wavelength of light they use with the help of plamons. Using hyperbolic plasmons, we were able to resolve features that were less than 100 nanometers.
It's an interesting option for research that favors ultra-thin materials because it can be peeled to different thicknesses. The group wants to explore other material that might have similar waveguiding properties to Zr SiSe. It could help researchers develop more efficient optical chips.
"We want to use optical waveguide modes, like we've found in this material and hope to find in others, as reporters of interesting new physics."
More information: Yinming Shao et al. Infrared plasmons propagate through a hyperbolic nodal metal. Science Advances (2022). DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.add6169 Journal information: Nature Physics , Science Advances
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