Inspired by the long carrier lifetimes (electron-electron and electron-phonon) in graphene and other 2D materials we have designed and developed computational strategies to integrate designer 2D metals, starting with Argentene and Cuphene. Cuphene and Argentene are new 2D materials that consist of a single atomic layer of silver/copper. Achieving high carrier density and mobility in a 2D material like Cuphene or Argentene, will be transformative for atomic-scale photonics and optical elements such as monolayer waveguides, sensors, and emission control layers. Realizing the potential of 2D metals, truly monolayer metals, requires an understanding of single-crystalline atomic layers of metals. We also investigate the feasibility of metal monolayers on existing 2D materials in order to facilitate their incorporation into van der Waals stacks.<br/>Taking this work further, we will discuss lifetimes and scattering in new classes of quantum materials including Weyl semimetals. The field of topological materials with strong electron-electron interactions is well established and has been the subject of intense research over the past few decades. In parallel, the field of photonics has made tremendous progress in connecting spatio-temporal measurements of new quantum materials, including 2D plasmonics and Moire structure localized potentials, to theoretical predictions. The study of the interplay between topological properties, quantum optics and plasmonic interactions in these materials has only very recently started to receive attention. Experimental demonstrations in Type II Dirac/Weyl semimetals, materials where electrons effectively interact as massless relativistic particles (Weyl fermions) and in 3D the conduction and valence bands touch at isolated points, have shown evidence of a viscous electronic transport regime similar to hydrodynamic electron flow observed at charge neutrality in graphene. In this regime, electron-electron scattering dominates over impurity scattering and other momentum-relaxing processes so that momentum is quasi-conserved and electron flow can be described using the formalism of hydrodynamics. Here we report a new microscopic model of this behavior using a combination of <i>ab initio</i> scattering methods and fluid dynamics techniques. Our work establishes a connection between the observed hydrodynamic phenomena in Weyl semi metals, crystal structure and symmetry and their optical properties.

Designer 2D metals and Weyl semimetals for zero-loss photonics

256th National Meeting (2018)

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