Dual-Phase Singularity at a Single Incident Angle with Spectral Tunability in Tamm Cavities

Abstract

The phase singularity, a sudden phase change occurring at the reflection zero is widely explored using various nanophotonic systems such as metamaterials and thin film cavities. Typically, these systems exhibit a single reflection zero with a phase singularity at a specific incident angle, particularly at larger angles of incidence (>50 degrees). However, achieving multiple phase singularities at a single incident angle remains a formidable challenge. Here, the existence of a dual-phase singularity is experimentally demonstrated at a lower incident angle using a tunable Tamm plasmon polariton (TPP) cavity that consists of gold-coated ultralow-loss phase change material Sb₂S₃-based distributed Bragg reflector. It can excite narrowband TPP resonances from normal incidence to a wide angle of incidence for both s- and p-polarizations of light. Notably, this TPP cavity shows dual-phase singularity at lower angles of incidence since the excited TPP for s- and p-polarizations exhibits zero reflection at slightly different wavelengths for the same incident angle. A TPP cavity-based scalable hydrogen sensor is proposed and shows that the dual-phase singularity can further improve the sensitivity of singular phase-based sensing approaches. Moreover, spectrally tunable dual-phase singularity is experimentally demonstrated at a lower incident angle using a metal-free Tamm cavity.