Manipulating polarized light with a planar slab of black phosphorus

Abstract

Wave polarization contains valuable information for electromagnetic signal processing; thus, the ability to manipulate it, can be extremely useful in modeling photonic devices. In this work, we propose designs comprised of one of the emerging and interesting media: black phosphorus (BP). Due to substantial in-plane anisotropy, a single slab of BP can be very efficient for controlling the polarization state of electromagnetic waves. We investigate BP slabs that filter the fields along one direction, or achieve polarization axis rotation, or convert linear polarization to circular. These slabs can be employed as components in numerous mid-IR integrated structures.