Polarization dependent light propagation in WTe 2 multilayer structure

Abstract

WTe 2 is one of the exciting and outstanding semimetallic members of TMDCs, which has attracted immense attention for manipulating light propagation due to its inherent optical anisotropy and hyperbolic characteristic in the infrared frequency range. We investigate the dependence of the reflectance and transmittance of structures with a single and double WTe 2 thin film in terms of frequency and polarization angle of the incident wave. We find rich behaviors in the optical response of these structures due to their anisotropic permittivity tensors. Furthermore, we analyze the polarization state of transmitted and reflected waves through these structures. We demonstrate that these structures provide the ability to achieve desired polarization rotation for outgoing waves by tuning the frequency and polarization angle of the incident wave with respect to the principal axes of WTe 2 thin film. In particular, we elucidate the essential relevance of the optical response and polarization rotation of the double thin film structure to the in-plain twist angle of WTe 2 thin films. We explain that this structure permits comprehensive control of the polarization rotation of the outgoing waves by adjusting the twist angle of thin films. The proposed structure can be employed as an efficient light manipulator with the aim of application in communication, imaging, and information processing.