Unusual plasmonic responses in phosphorene with topological transition: the interplay of strain and doping

Abstract

Abstract In this paper, plasmonic responses of phosphorene in the presence of strain and doping have been systematically investigated. Based on density functional theory, permittivities include both the intraband and interband transitions of electrons have been calculated. Due to the modification of the band structure, significantly higher Drude plasma frequency has been observed along the zigzag direction, other than the armchair direction as in the usual case. The resulting unusual plasmonic responses change their anisotropy, both in the elliptic as well as the hyperbolic regimes. Based on our calculations, positive strain as large as 5% along the zigzag direction can even lead to so-called reversed hyperbolic plasmonic responses. The k-surfaces of the plasmonic modes in extended monolayer have been analytically solved, and it is found that actively switching the topology (between elliptic and hyperbolic regimes) of the plasmonic responses by changing the Fermi level is possible in phosphorene at certain frequencies. In the end, a simple model has been proposed to describe such plasmonic responses in the infrared and the parameters of the model have been listed in tables which can be used directly in calculating the permittivities. Our studies may extend the scope of existing investigations of phosphorene plasmons and lead to band engineering as a way to control plasmons in two-dimensional materials.