Dynamic control of polarization conversion based on borophene nanostructures in optical communication bands

Abstract

Polarized light has various potential applications in the communication bands, including optical communication, polarization imaging, quantum emission, and quantum communication. However, optimizing polarization control requires continuous improvements in areas such as dynamic tunability, materials, and efficiency. In this work, we propose a borophene-based structure capable of converting linearly polarized light into arbitrarily polarized light through the coherent excitation of localized surface plasmons (LSPs) in optical communication band. Furthermore, a double-layer borophene structure can be achieved by placing a second borophene array at the top of the first one with a 90° relative rotation of their crystalline plane. The rotation direction of the polarization state of the reflected light can be switched by independently controlling the carrier concentration of the two-layer borophene. Finally, a dipole source is used to realize the emission of polarized light, which is two orders of magnitude higher than the emission rate in free space, and the polarization state can be dynamically controlled by manipulating the carrier concentration. Our study is simple and compact, with potential applications in the fields of polarizers, polarization detectors, and quantum emitters.