Anisotropic Complex Refractive Indices of Atomically Thin Materials: Determination of the Optical Constants of Few-Layer Black Phosphorus

Materials (Basel). 2020 Dec 16;13(24):5736. doi: 10.3390/ma13245736.

Abstract

In this work, studies of the optical constants of monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides and few-layer black phosphorus are briefly reviewed, with particular emphasis on the complex dielectric function and refractive index. Specifically, an estimate of the complex index of refraction of phosphorene and few-layer black phosphorus is given. The complex index of refraction of this material was extracted from differential reflectance data reported in the literature by employing a constrained Kramers-Kronig analysis combined with the transfer matrix method. The reflectance contrast of 1-3 layers of black phosphorus on a silicon dioxide/silicon substrate was then calculated using the extracted complex indices of refraction.

Keywords: Kramers–Kronig analysis; black phosphorus; complex refractive index; transition metal dichalcogenides; two-dimensional materials.