English

Two-dimensional talc as a natural hyperbolic material

Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics 2026-04-29 v2 Materials Science

Abstract

This study demonstrates that two-dimensional talc, a naturally abundant mineral, supports hyperbolic phonon-polaritons (HPhPs) at mid-infrared wavelengths, thus offering a low-cost alternative to synthetic polaritonic materials. Using scattering scanning near-field optical microscopy (s-SNOM) and synchrotron infrared nano spectroscopy (SINS), we reveal tunable HPhP modes in talc flakes of a long lifetime. These results highlight the potential of natural 2D talc crystals to constituting an effective platform for establishing scalable optoelectronic and photonic devices.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.17340,
  title  = {Two-dimensional talc as a natural hyperbolic material},
  author = {Flávio H. Feres and Francisco C. B. Maia and Shu Chen and Rafael A. Mayer and Maximillian Obst and Osama Hatem and Lukas Wehmeier and Tobias Nörenberg and Matheus S. Queiroz and Victor Mazzotti and J. Michael Klopf and Susanne C. Kehr and Lukas M. Eng and Alisson R. Cadore and Rainer Hillenbrand and Raul O. Freitas and Ingrid D. Barcelos},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.17340},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

8 pages, 4 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:23:02.337Z