Dresden 2026 – scientific programme
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HL: Fachverband Halbleiterphysik
HL 26: Poster II
HL 26.42: Poster
Wednesday, March 11, 2026, 09:30–11:30, P1
Propagation of Bloch surface polaritons in ZnO — Sebastian Henn, •Dmitry Sayenko, Marius Grundmann, and Chris Sturm — Felix Bloch Institute for Solid State Physics, Leipzig University, Leipzig, Germany
Here we present the long-range propagation of Bloch surface polaritons (BSP) in ZnO, which are formed through the strong interaction between light and excitons. Of special interest are BSP particles as they are bosonic quasi-particles and inherit the long-range propagating properties of the involved photons. In contrast to typically used microcavities, BSPs are formed at the surface of a photonic crystal, and thus the fabrication of these structures requires less technical effort and the properties of the BSP are surface-sensitive. In our studies, we realized BSPs in a photonic crystal made of distributed Bragg reflector made of yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) and Al2O3. As an active medium, we used a ZnO surface layer, allowing strong coupling up to 430 K [1]. For the coupling of the BSPs to the vacuum modes, a 1D grating was etched onto the surface. By employing non-resonant excitation and varying the distance of the excitation with respect to the grating, the propagation length of BSPs was determined. We found that the propagation length of the BSP is about five times larger than would be expected for a pure photonic mode traveling through the ZnO layer [2]. We attribute this enhancement of the propagation lenght to the extended field distribution within the structure.
[1] S. Henn et al., New J. Phys. 23, 093031 (2021).
[2] S. Henn et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 125, 211104 (2024).
Keywords: Bloch surface waves; Polaritons; Distributed Bragg Reflectors; YSZ; Al2O3