Plasmonic gain in current biased tilted Dirac nodes
Abstract

Surface plasmons, which allow tight confinement of light, suffer from high intrinsic electronic losses. It has been shown that stimulated emission from excited electrons can transfer energy to plasmons and compensate for the high intrinsic losses. To-date, these realizations have relied on introducing an external gain media coupled to the surface plasmon. Here, we propose that plasmons in two-dimensional materials with closely located electron and hole Fermi pockets can be amplified, when an electrical current bias is applied along the displaced electron-hole pockets, without the need for an external gain media. As a prototypical example, we consider WTe2from the family of 1T$${}^{{\prime} }$$${}^{\prime }$-MX2materials, whose electronic structure can be described within a type-II tilted massive Dirac model. We find that the nonlocal plasmonic response experiences prominent gain for experimentally accessible currents on the order of mAμm−1. Furthermore, the group velocity of the plasmon found from the isofrequency curves imply that the amplified plasmons are highly collimated along a direction perpendicular to the Dirac node tilt when the electrical current is applied along it.

Authors:
; ; ;
Award ID(s):
Publication Date:
NSF-PAR ID:
10385037
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Volume:
13
Issue:
1
ISSN:
2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
National Science Foundation
##### More Like this
1. Abstract

Detailed electrical and photoemission studies were carried out to probe the chemical nature of the insulating ground state of VO2, whose properties have been an issue for accurate prediction by common theoretical probes. The effects of a systematic modulation of oxygen over-stoichiometry of VO2from 1.86 to 2.44 on the band structure and insulator–metal transitions are presented for the first time. Results offer a different perspective on the temperature- and doping-induced IMT process. They suggest that charge fluctuation in the metallic phase of intrinsic VO2results in the formation of eand h+pairs that lead to delocalized polaronic V3+and V5+cation states. The metal-to-insulator transition is linked to the cooperative effects of changes in the V–O bond length, localization of V3+electrons at V5+sites, which results in the formation of V4+–V4+dimers, and removal of$$\pi^{*}$$${\pi }^{\ast }$screening electrons. It is shown that the nature of phase transitions is linked to the lattice V3+/V5+concentrations of stoichiometric VO2and that electronic transitions are regulated by the interplay between charge fluctuation, charge redistribution, and structural transition.

2. Abstract

We present a proof of concept for a spectrally selective thermal mid-IR source based on nanopatterned graphene (NPG) with a typical mobility of CVD-grown graphene (up to 3000$$\hbox {cm}^2\,\hbox {V}^{-1}\,\hbox {s}^{-1}$$${\text{cm}}^{2}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{\text{V}}^{-1}\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}{\text{s}}^{-1}$), ensuring scalability to large areas. For that, we solve the electrostatic problem of a conducting hyperboloid with an elliptical wormhole in the presence of anin-planeelectric field. The localized surface plasmons (LSPs) on the NPG sheet, partially hybridized with graphene phonons and surface phonons of the neighboring materials, allow for the control and tuning of the thermal emission spectrum in the wavelength regime from$$\lambda =3$$$\lambda =3$to 12$$\upmu$$$\mu$m by adjusting the size of and distance between the circular holes in a hexagonal or square lattice structure. Most importantly, the LSPs along with an optical cavity increase the emittance of graphene from about 2.3% for pristine graphene to 80% for NPG, thereby outperforming state-of-the-art pristine graphene light sources operating in the near-infrared by at least a factor of 100. According to our COMSOL calculations, a maximum emission power per area of$$11\times 10^3$$$11×{10}^{3}$W/$$\hbox {m}^2$$${\text{m}}^{2}$at$$T=2000$$$T=2000$K for a bias voltage of$$V=23$$$V=23$V is achieved by controlling the temperature of the hot electrons through the Joule heating. By generalizing Planck’s theory to any grey body and derivingmore »

3. Abstract

Complete theoretical understanding of the most complex superconductors requires a detailed knowledge of the symmetry of the superconducting energy-gap$${\mathrm{{\Delta}}}_{\mathbf{k}}^\alpha$$${\Delta }_{k}^{\alpha }$, for all momentakon the Fermi surface of every bandα. While there are a variety of techniques for determining$$|{\mathrm{{\Delta}}}_{\mathbf{k}}^\alpha |$$$\mid {\Delta }_{k}^{\alpha }\mid$, no general method existed to measure the signed values of$${\mathrm{{\Delta}}}_{\mathbf{k}}^\alpha$$${\Delta }_{k}^{\alpha }$. Recently, however, a technique based on phase-resolved visualization of superconducting quasiparticle interference (QPI) patterns, centered on a single non-magnetic impurity atom, was introduced. In principle, energy-resolved and phase-resolved Fourier analysis of these images identifies wavevectors connecting allk-space regions where$${\mathrm{{\Delta}}}_{\mathbf{k}}^\alpha$$${\Delta }_{k}^{\alpha }$has the same or opposite sign. But use of a single isolated impurity atom, from whose precise location the spatial phase of the scattering interference pattern must be measured, is technically difficult. Here we introduce a generalization of this approach for use with multiple impurity atoms, and demonstrate its validity by comparing the$${\mathrm{{\Delta}}}_{\mathbf{k}}^\alpha$$${\Delta }_{k}^{\alpha }$it generates to the$${\mathrm{{\Delta}}}_{\mathbf{k}}^\alpha$$${\Delta }_{k}^{\alpha }$determined from single-atom scattering in FeSe where s±energy-gap symmetry is established. Finally, to exemplify utility, we use the multi-atom technique on LiFeAs and find scattering interference between the hole-like and electron-like pockets as predicted for$${\mathrm{{\Delta}}}_{\mathbf{k}}^\alpha$$${\Delta }_{k}^{\alpha }$of opposite sign.

4. Abstract

We perform particle-in-cell simulations to elucidate the microphysics of relativistic weakly magnetized shocks loaded with electron-positron pairs. Various external magnetizationsσ≲ 10−4and pair-loading factorsZ±≲ 10 are studied, whereZ±is the number of loaded electrons and positrons per ion. We find the following: (1) The shock becomes mediated by the ion Larmor gyration in the mean field whenσexceeds a critical valueσLthat decreases withZ±. AtσσLthe shock is mediated by particle scattering in the self-generated microturbulent fields, the strength and scale of which decrease withZ±, leading to lowerσL. (2) The energy fraction carried by the post-shock pairs is robustly in the range between 20% and 50% of the upstream ion energy. The mean energy per post-shock electron scales as$E¯e∝Z±+1−1$. (3) Pair loading suppresses nonthermal ion acceleration at magnetizations as low asσ≈ 5 × 10−6. The ions then become essentially thermal with mean energy$E¯i$, while electrons form a nonthermal tail, extending from$E∼Z±+1−1E¯i$to$E¯i$. Whenσ= 0, particle acceleration is enhanced by the formation of intense magnetic cavities that populate the precursor during the late stages of shock evolution. Here,more »

5. Abstract

We report on a series of detailed Breit-Pauli and Dirac B-spline R-matrix (DBSR) differential cross section (DCS) calculations for excitation of the$$5\,^2\textrm{S}_{1/2} \rightarrow 5\,^2\textrm{P}_{1/2}$$$5{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}}^{2}{\text{S}}_{1/2}\to 5{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}}^{2}{\text{P}}_{1/2}$and$$5\,^2\textrm{S}_{1/2}\rightarrow 5\,^2\textrm{P}_{3/2}$$$5{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}}^{2}{\text{S}}_{1/2}\to 5{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}}^{2}{\text{P}}_{3/2}$states in rubidium by 40 eV incident electrons. The early BP computations shown here were carried out with both 5 states and 12 states, while the DBSR models coupled 150 and 325 states, respectively. We also report corresponding results from a limited set of DCS measurements on the unresolved$$5\,^2\textrm{P}_{1/2,3/2}$$$5{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}}^{2}{\text{P}}_{1/2,3/2}$states, with the experimental data being restricted to the scattered electron angular range 2–$$10^\circ$$${10}^{\circ }$. Typically, good agreement is found between our calculated and measured DCS for excitation of the unresolved$$5\,^2\textrm{P}_{1/2,3/2}$$$5{\phantom{\rule{0ex}{0ex}}}^{2}{\text{P}}_{1/2,3/2}$states, with best accord being found between the DBSR predictions and the measured data. The present theoretical and experimental results are also compared with predictions from earlier 40 eV calculations using the nonrelativistic Distorted-Wave Born Approximation and a Relativistic Distorted-Wave model.

Graphic abstract