Twist-Controlled Symmetry Breaking in Surface Phonon Polariton Moiré Metasurfaces

R. B Iyer; S. H Park; N. R Sahoo; T Low; T. G Folland

doi:10.48550/arxiv.2604.10915

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Twist-Controlled Symmetry Breaking in Surface Phonon Polariton Moiré Metasurfaces

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Twist-Controlled Symmetry Breaking in Surface Phonon Polariton Moiré Metasurfaces

R. B Iyer, S. H Park, N. R Sahoo, T Low and T. G Folland

ArXiv.org

Cornell University

04/13/2026

DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2604.10915

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Preprint (Author's original) This preprint has not been evaluated by subject experts through peer review. Preprints may undergo extensive changes and/or become peer-reviewed journal articles. Open Access

Abstract

Moire lattices provide a powerful route for engineering emergent symmetries and length scales through the relative rotation of periodic structures. However, their implementation in polaritonic systems remains relatively unexplored, and a general framework describing how twist modifies the interaction of optical modes in momentum space is still lacking. Here, we investigate how twist-induced moire periodicities can control symmetry and momentum-space coupling in surface phonon polariton (SPhP) metasurfaces. We fabricate twisted overlapping dual-grating metasurfaces on a polar dielectric substrate with dielectric overlayer and characterize their optical response using polarization-resolved Fourier-transform infrared microscopy. Experimental measurements are combined with full-wave simulations and momentum-space analysis to identify the resonant SPhP and SPhP-like waveguide (WG) modes arising from both individual grating periodicities and emergent moire periodicities. The results reveal twist-controlled symmetry breaking manifested as asymmetry between p to s and s to p polarization conversion, along with twist-dependent interactions between SPhP and SPhP-like WG modes. Our analysis reveals that the twist-engineered polarization-conversion asymmetry enables directional biasing of infrared radiative heat transfer. These findings establish twisted phonon-polaritonic metasurfaces as a versatile platform for geometry-controlled symmetry engineering in the mid-infrared. Future work may leverage such twist-programmable polaritonic interactions to enable directional thermal emission, polarization-selective detection, and reconfigurable infrared photonic devices.

Physics - Optics

Details

Title: Subtitle: Twist-Controlled Symmetry Breaking in Surface Phonon Polariton Moiré Metasurfaces
Creators: R. B Iyer
S. H Park
N. R Sahoo
T Low
T. G Folland
Resource Type: Preprint
Publication Details: ArXiv.org
DOI: 10.48550/arxiv.2604.10915
ISSN: 2331-8422
Publisher: Cornell University; Ithaca, New York
Language: English
Date posted: 04/13/2026
Academic Unit: Physics and Astronomy
Record Identifier: 9985153533702771

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