Polarization-independent plasmonic absorption in stacked anisotropic 2D material nanostructures

Here we study the possibility to achieve polarization-independent optical absorption in stacked anisotropic 2D material nanostructures (NSs). Focusing on black phosphorus, we demonstrate that by crossly stacking even-layered NSs, surface plasmons resonant in the two lattice directions are complementary excited, leading to polarization-independent absorption at any layer distance. This property is numerically validated using full electromagnetic simulations and theoretically predicted by a two-particle model. Our proposal can open up the possibility of anisotropic 2D materials to develop polarization-independent plasmon devices such as sensors and absorbers. (C) 2019 Optical Society of America