Spatial shifts of reflected rotating elliptical Gaussian beams from surface phonon polaritons in hyperbolic materials

Abstract The effect of surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs) on Goos-Hänchen (GH) and Imbert-Fedorov (IF) shifts of reflected rotating elliptical Gaussian beams (REGBs) is investigated in the Otto configuration with a naturally hyperbolic material (NHM) substrate. The spatial shifts are enhanced significantly and adjusted by tuning the REGBs and the optical axis orientation of NHM. The magnitude of GH and IF shifts is easily evaluated by timing the elliptical parameter b02 on the basis of the spatial shift at b0=1.0 when η(=a0/b0)≥2.0. The attenuation total reflection (ATR) spectra are simulated for a hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) substrate. To better understand the impact of SPhPs on the GH and IF shifts, a dispersion equation for SPhPs is established. The features of GH and IF shifts around SPhPs can be observed through the frequency scanning along the dispersion curves at a fixed incident angle. The comparison between the ATR spectra and the dispersion curves demonstrates that the enhancement of GH and IF shifts with higher reflection always occurs in the reststrahlen bands (RBs) of NHM once SPhPs are excited. In RB-I, the magnitudes of GH and IF shifts attributable to the SPhPs are located between the peak and dip of a shift curve within a very narrow frequency region. However, in RB-II, the positive maximum values of GH and IF shifts just coincide with the SPhPs. As a result, it is predicted that a relatively large spatial shift will be observed along the frequency scanning line. The large shifts accompanied by the higher reflection may show potential applications in optical or optoelectronic technologies.