Hyperbolic shear polaritons and their potential applications

Abstract

Hyperbolic shear polaritons recently emerge with widespread attention as a new form of polariton modes with broken symmetry due to shear lattices. Herein, the generation mechanism of hyperbolic shear polaritons is discussed in detail. The exotic anisotropic nanophotonic properties of hyperbolic shear polaritons as well as their potential applications (e.g., ultra-sensitive biomedical sensor, enhancing the near-field thermal radiation and the photonic spin Hall effect) are reviewed. Some existing issues and potential interesting directions for hyperbolic shear polaritons are outlined. This work could inspire more interest in anisotropic two-dimensional crystals and spur the quick generation of new photonic devices based on hyperbolic polaritons.