2023/09/05 by Aleksandr S. Slavich, Slavich, Aleksandr S., Georgy A. Ermolaev +33 · 1 citation
Engineering · Materials Science · #2D Materials and Applications #Boron and Carbon Nanomaterials Research #Chalcogenide Semiconductor Thin Films #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Optics (physics.optics)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2309.01989
openalex publication_date 2023/09/05 · openalex created_date 2023/09/09 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The emergence of van der Waals (vdW) materials resulted in the discovery of their giant optical, mechanical, and electronic anisotropic properties, immediately enabling countless novel phenomena and applications. Such success inspired an intensive search for the highest possible anisotropic properties among vdW materials. Furthermore, the identification of the most promising among the huge family of vdW materials is a challenging quest requiring innovative approaches. Here, we suggest an easy-to-use method for such a survey based on the crystallographic geometrical perspective of vdW materials followed by their optical characterization. Using our approach, we found As2S3 as a highly anisotropic vdW material. It demonstrates rare giant in-plane optical anisotropy, high refractive index and transparency in the visible range, overcoming the century-long record set by rutile. Given these benefits, As2S3 opens a pathway towards next-generation nanophotonics as demonstrated by an ultrathin true zero-order quarter-waveplate that combines classical and the Fabry-Perot optical phase accumulations. Hence, our approach provides an effective and easy-to-use method to find vdW materials with the utmost anisotropic properties.