Tunable plasmon-phonon polaritons in anisotropic 2D materials on hexagonal boron nitride

Mid-infrared (MIR) plasmon-phonon features of heterostructures composing of a plasmonic anisotropic two-dimensional material (A2DM) on a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) film are analyzed. We derive the exact dispersion relations of plasmon-phonons supported by the heterostructures and demonstrate the possibility of topological transitions of these modes within the second Rest-strahlen band of hBN. The topological transitions lead to enhanced local density of plasmon-phonon states, which intensifies the spontaneous emission rate, if the thickness of the hBN layer is appropriately chosen. We also investigate a lateral junction formed by A2DM/hBN and A2DM, demonstrating that one can realize asymmetric guiding, beaming, and unidirectionality of the hybrid guided modes. Our findings demonstrate potential capabilities of the A2DM/hBN heterostructures for active tunable light-matter interactions and asymmetric in-plane polariton nanophotonics in the MIR range.