T5: Plasmon and Phonon Polariton Physics

Plasmon and phonon polaritons (P3) are electromagnetic surface waves that emerge when photons couple with electron or phonon excitations, respectively. Although the nature of the excitations and materials used are different for both systems, the physics and demonstrations are very similar. P3 have been shown to concentrate light orders of magnitude below the Abbe diffraction limit, demonstrating their use for surface-enhanced sensing, nanophotonic circuits, super-resolution imaging, and nonlinear optics. Recent achievements are exploring new physics in the field of P3 including, chirality, surface lattice resonators, hyperbolicity, and permittivity/permeability near zero in the optical regime. Exploration of these phenomena has been enabled through the combination of materials with dielectric and metallic response at nanometer scales, complemented with nanofabrication and theory. Therefore, understanding the P3 field demands highly interdisciplinary knowledge including theory, material science, fabrication, and optics. The lectures will provide a basic introduction to P3 systems, their realizations, and applications, with a discussion of open questions and challenges.

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https://march.aps.org/events/plasmon-and-phonon-polariton-physics