Chiral propagation of plasmons due to competing anisotropies in a twisted photonic heterostructure

Abstract

We demonstrate chiral propagation of plasmon polaritons and show it is more efficient and easier to control than the recently observed chiral shear phonon polaritons. We consider plasmon polaritons created in an anisotropic two-dimensional (2D) material, twisted with respect to an anisotropic substrate, to best exploit the competition between anisotropic electron-electron interactions and the anisotropic electronic structure of the host material. Gate voltage and twist angle are then used for precise control of the chiral plasmon polaritons, overcoming the existing restrictions with chiral phonon polaritons. These findings open up feasible opportunities for efficient and tunable plasmon-based nanophotonics and compact high-performance on-chip optical devices.