Scholarlink

<p>Plasmonics enables the miniaturization of photonic devices beyond the optical diffraction limit, yet its potential is hindered by inherently large ohmic losses. Hence, it is prudent to explore low-loss alternatives to the current mainstay of plasmonics—the noble metals. In this work, we demonstrate the potential of potassium as a plasmonic material with intrinsically low losses in the optical region. The ultra-flat, high-quality potassium film, fabricated via a rapid slipping-assisted oxide-free crystallization process, achieves measured optical damping rate down to 2.27 meV, with a measured imaginary permittivity of ~0.1 across the entire visible to near-infrared range (400–2000 nm). Near-field optical spectroscopic measurements further confirmed the reduced losses by revealing deeply subwavelength confinement of optical modes. This result overcomes the loss-confinement tradeoff existing in state-of-the-art plasmonic materials and devices, establishing a new platform for exploring extreme light–matter interactions in a variety of plasmonic systems.</p><p></p>

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Approaching the low optical loss limit of plasmonics using potassium

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年7月21日

查看全文
  • Yi Zhang,
  • Yuhan Yang,
  • Jie Liang,
  • Shizhuang Wang,
  • Yuhong Shi,
  • Pengcheng Yao,
  • Hanyu Fu,
  • Jacob B. Khurgin,
  • Fengrui Hu,
  • Jia Zhu,
  • Shining Zhu,
  • Lin Zhou

摘要

Plasmonics enables the miniaturization of photonic devices beyond the optical diffraction limit, yet its potential is hindered by inherently large ohmic losses. Hence, it is prudent to explore low-loss alternatives to the current mainstay of plasmonics—the noble metals. In this work, we demonstrate the potential of potassium as a plasmonic material with intrinsically low losses in the optical region. The ultra-flat, high-quality potassium film, fabricated via a rapid slipping-assisted oxide-free crystallization process, achieves measured optical damping rate down to 2.27 meV, with a measured imaginary permittivity of ~0.1 across the entire visible to near-infrared range (400–2000 nm). Near-field optical spectroscopic measurements further confirmed the reduced losses by revealing deeply subwavelength confinement of optical modes. This result overcomes the loss-confinement tradeoff existing in state-of-the-art plasmonic materials and devices, establishing a new platform for exploring extreme light–matter interactions in a variety of plasmonic systems.