Ikerbasque

About: Ikerbasque is a other organization based out in Bilbao, Spain. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Graphene & Quantum. The organization has 713 authors who have published 7967 publications receiving 231990 citations. The organization is also known as: Basque Foundation for Science.

In-plane anisotropic and ultra-low-loss polaritons in a natural van der Waals crystal.

Abstract: Polaritons-hybrid light-matter excitations-enable nanoscale control of light. Particularly large polariton field confinement and long lifetimes can be found in graphene and materials consisting of two-dimensional layers bound by weak van der Waals forces1,2 (vdW materials). These polaritons can be tuned by electric fields3,4 or by material thickness5, leading to applications including nanolasers6, tunable infrared and terahertz detectors7, and molecular sensors8. Polaritons with anisotropic propagation along the surface of vdW materials have been predicted, caused by in-plane anisotropic structural and electronic properties9. In such materials, elliptic and hyperbolic in-plane polariton dispersion can be expected (for example, plasmon polaritons in black phosphorus9), the latter leading to an enhanced density of optical states and ray-like directional propagation along the surface. However, observation of anisotropic polariton propagation in natural materials has so far remained elusive. Here we report anisotropic polariton propagation along the surface of α-MoO3, a natural vdW material. By infrared nano-imaging and nano-spectroscopy of semiconducting α-MoO3 flakes and disks, we visualize and verify phonon polaritons with elliptic and hyperbolic in-plane dispersion, and with wavelengths (up to 60 times smaller than the corresponding photon wavelengths) comparable to those of graphene plasmon polaritons and boron nitride phonon polaritons3-5. From signal oscillations in real-space images we measure polariton amplitude lifetimes of 8 picoseconds, which is more than ten times larger than that of graphene plasmon polaritons at room temperature10. They are also a factor of about four larger than the best values so far reported for phonon polaritons in isotopically engineered boron nitride11 and for graphene plasmon polaritons at low temperatures12. In-plane anisotropic and ultra-low-loss polaritons in vdW materials could enable directional and strong light-matter interactions, nanoscale directional energy transfer and integrated flat optics in applications ranging from bio-sensing to quantum nanophotonics.

Monodisperse Gold Nanotriangles: Size Control, Large-Scale Self-Assembly, and Performance in Surface-Enhanced Raman Scattering

Abstract: Au nanotriangles display interesting nanoplasmonic features with potential application in various fields. However, such applications have been hindered by the lack of efficient synthetic methods yielding sufficient size and shape monodispersity, as well as by insufficient morphological stability. We present here a synthesis and purification protocol that efficiently addresses these issues. The size of the nanotriangles can be tuned within a wide range by simply changing the experimental parameters. The obtained monodispersity leads to extended self-assembly, not only on electron microscopy grids but also at the air–liquid interface, allowing transfer onto centimeter-size substrates. These extended monolayers show promising performance as surface-enhanced Raman scattering substrates, as demonstrated for thiophenol detection.

Wannier90 as a community code: new features and applications.

Abstract: Wannier90 is an open-source computer program for calculating maximally-localised Wannier functions (MLWFs) from a set of Bloch states. It is interfaced to many widely used electronic-structure codes thanks to its independence from the basis sets representing these Bloch states. In the past few years the development of Wannier90 has transitioned to a community-driven model; this has resulted in a number of new developments that have been recently released in Wannier90 v3.0. In this article we describe these new functionalities, that include the implementation of new features for wannierisation and disentanglement (symmetry-adapted Wannier functions, selectively-localised Wannier functions, selected columns of the density matrix) and the ability to calculate new properties (shift currents and Berry-curvature dipole, and a new interface to many-body perturbation theory); performance improvements, including parallelisation of the core code; enhancements in functionality (support for spinor-valued Wannier functions, more accurate methods to interpolate quantities in the Brillouin zone); improved usability (improved plotting routines, integration with high-throughput automation frameworks), as well as the implementation of modern software engineering practices (unit testing, continuous integration, and automatic source-code documentation). These new features, capabilities, and code development model aim to further sustain and expand the community uptake and range of applicability, that nowadays spans complex and accurate dielectric, electronic, magnetic, optical, topological and transport properties of materials.

Quantum Plasmonics: Nonlinear Effects in the Field Enhancement of a Plasmonic Nanoparticle Dimer

Abstract: A fully quantum mechanical investigation using time-dependent density functional theory reveals that the field enhancement in a coupled nanoparticle dimer can be strongly affected by nonlinear effects. We show that both classical as well as linear quantum mechanical descriptions of the system fail even for moderate incident light intensities. An interparticle current resulting from the strong field photoemission tends to neutralize the plasmon-induced surface charge densities on the opposite sides of the nanoparticle junction. Thus, the coupling between the two nanoparticles and the field enhancement is reduced as compared to linear theory. A substantial nonlinear effect is revealed already at incident powers of 109 W/cm2 for interparticle separation distances as large as 1 nm and down to the touching limit.

Higher-Order Topology in Bismuth

Abstract: The mathematical field of topology has become a framework to describe the low-energy electronic structure of crystalline solids. A typical feature of a bulk insulating three-dimensional topological crystal are conducting two-dimensional surface states. This constitutes the topological bulk-boundary correspondence. Here, we establish that the electronic structure of bismuth, an element consistently described as bulk topologically trivial, is in fact topological and follows a generalized bulk-boundary correspondence of higher-order: not the surfaces of the crystal, but its hinges host topologically protected conducting modes. These hinge modes are protected against localization by time-reversal symmetry locally, and globally by the three-fold rotational symmetry and inversion symmetry of the bismuth crystal. We support our claim theoretically and experimentally. Our theoretical analysis is based on symmetry arguments, topological indices, first-principle calculations, and the recently introduced framework of topological quantum chemistry. We provide supporting evidence from two complementary experimental techniques. With scanning-tunneling spectroscopy, we probe the unique signatures of the rotational symmetry of the one-dimensional states located at step edges of the crystal surface. With Josephson interferometry, we demonstrate their universal topological contribution to the electronic transport. Our work establishes bismuth as a higher-order topological insulator.