Tunable and low-loss correlated plasmons in Mott-like insulating oxides

Teguh Citra Asmara; Dongyang Wan; Yongliang Zhao; Muhammad Aziz Majidi; Christopher T Nelson; Mary C Scott; Yao Cai; Bixing Yan; Daniel Schmidt; Ming Yang; Tao Zhu; Paolo E Trevisanutto; Mallikarjuna R Motapothula; Yuan Ping Feng; Mark B H Breese; Matthew Sherburne; Mark Asta; Andrew Minor; T Venkatesan; Andrivo Rusydi

doi:10.1038/ncomms15271

Tunable and low-loss correlated plasmons in Mott-like insulating oxides

Nat Commun. 2017 May 12:8:15271. doi: 10.1038/ncomms15271.

Authors

Teguh Citra Asmara^{1

2}, Dongyang Wan^{1

3}, Yongliang Zhao¹, Muhammad Aziz Majidi^{2

3}, Christopher T Nelson^{4

5}, Mary C Scott^{4

5}, Yao Cai⁴, Bixing Yan^{1

3}, Daniel Schmidt², Ming Yang^{2

3}, Tao Zhu^{2

3}, Paolo E Trevisanutto^{2

3

6}, Mallikarjuna R Motapothula^{1

3}, Yuan Ping Feng^{3

6}, Mark B H Breese^{1

2

3}, Matthew Sherburne⁴, Mark Asta⁴, Andrew Minor^{4

5}, T Venkatesan^{1

3

7

8

9}, Andrivo Rusydi^{1

2

3

7}

Affiliations

¹ NUSNNI-NanoCore, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117411, Singapore.
² Singapore Synchrotron Light Source, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117603, Singapore.
³ Department of Physics, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117551, Singapore.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
⁵ National Center for Electron Microscopy, Molecular Foundry, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
⁶ Centre for Advanced 2D Materials and Graphene Research Centre, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117546, Singapore.
⁷ NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117456, Singapore.
⁸ Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117583, Singapore.
⁹ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117575, Singapore.

Abstract

Plasmonics has attracted tremendous interests for its ability to confine light into subwavelength dimensions, creating novel devices with unprecedented functionalities. New plasmonic materials are actively being searched, especially those with tunable plasmons and low loss in the visible-ultraviolet range. Such plasmons commonly occur in metals, but many metals have high plasmonic loss in the optical range, a main issue in current plasmonic research. Here, we discover an anomalous form of tunable correlated plasmons in a Mott-like insulating oxide from the Sr_1-xNb_1-yO_3+δ family. These correlated plasmons have multiple plasmon frequencies and low loss in the visible-ultraviolet range. Supported by theoretical calculations, these plasmons arise from the nanometre-spaced confinement of extra oxygen planes that enhances the unscreened Coulomb interactions among charges. The correlated plasmons are tunable: they diminish as extra oxygen plane density or film thickness decreases. Our results open a path for plasmonics research in previously untapped insulating and strongly-correlated materials.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't