Surface phonon polaritons on anisotropic piezoelectric superlattices

A theoretical study of surface phonon polaritons (SPhPs) on periodically poled lithium niobate and periodically poled lithium tantalate surfaces is presented. We calculate the dielectric response for six different superlattice orientations and the associated SPhP dispersion relations. Our study of SPhPs accounts for the anisotropic nature of the dielectric response of the semi-infinite piezoelectric superlattices. We find that two different types of SPhPs can be supported. The first type consists of real surface dipole oscillations coupled to photons. The second type consists of virtual surface dipole oscillations driven by the incident photons. The dependence of the SPhPs on temperature and superlattice geometry is addressed. The use of these metamaterial excitations is discussed in the context of hybrid quantum systems.