Unlocking the Future of Nanophotonics – Breaking Symmetry To Excite Polaritons

Harnessing extremely confined and strongly directional polaritons at the nanoscale is crucial for the creation of integrated nanophotonic devices, circuits, and chips. A lot of research has been conducted on high-symmetry crystals, especially on hyperbolic polaritons (HPs). Nevertheless, the HP propagation within the plane of high-symmetry optical crystals typically displays four mirror-symmetric beams, leading to a decrease in directionality and efficiency of energy transport.