Work

Deep-Subwavelength Negative Refraction of Hyperbolic Plasmon Polariton at Visible Frequencies

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Negative refraction of nanolight (e.g., polaritons, hybrid light, and matter excitation) provides a promising building block for nanophotonics, as it paves the way for developing cutting-edge nanoscale applications, such as super-resolution and subwavelength imaging. In the visible regime, negative refraction of surface plasmon polaritons has been extensively studied in conventional plasmonic and metamaterial systems; however, the inherent metallic losses remain a challenge that hinders their practical applications. Herein, we demonstrate negative refraction of low-loss and highly confined hyperbolic plasmon polaritons (HPPs) in a lateral heterojunction of a natural hyperbolic van der Waals material, molybdenum dioxide chloride (MoOCl2). Owing to the exotic and ray-like propagating properties of HPPs, the negative refraction-inspired superlens can easily reach into the deep subwavelength scale, with spatial confinement of 800 nm near-infrared light wavelengths to below 150 nm focal spots. By elaborately adjusting the orientation directions of two-sided MoOCl2, the mirror-symmetric superlensing effect can be tilted, and therefore, the focal spots are tuned and steered to deviate from the vertical interfacial lines. Our results applying the concepts of in-plane negative refraction with vdW materials achieve deep subwavelength light confinement and manipulation, offering new possibilities for constructing efficient and compact nanophotonic and opto-electronic devices.

Source: Photonics

DOI: 10.3390/photonics13020146