Antimony for broadband nanophotonics across the ultraviolet, visible and infrared
Abstract
Semimetal elemental antimony (Sb) nanostructures show great potential for applications where nanophotonic properties play a key role, such as phase-change optical memories, non-linear optical elements, photothermal therapy agents, photodetectors and photocatalysts. However, designing advanced Sb-based photonic devices critically requires an accurate and reliable knowledge of the optical response of bulk and nanoscale Sb. Herein, we report for the first time a fully consistent and accurately measured dielectric function for Sb nanoscale films in a wide spectral range from the ultraviolet to the far infrared (4 - 0.04 eV, i.e. ~ 0.3 - 30 μm), surpassing previous reports that explored a limited spectral range. It is found that the Sb spectral response is driven exclusively by giant interband transitions in the visible up to mid infrared (4 - 0.4 eV, i.e. ~ 0.3 - 3 μm), and that their contribution dominates over that of free carriers down to 0.12 eV (i.e. ~ 10 μm). Such spectral response enables Sb nanostructures to display spectrally selective and tunable nanophotonic resonances. First, we showcase interband plasmonic resonances in the visible-to-near infrared for Sb nanogratings. Second, we report giant refractive index dielectric resonances in the mid infrared for nanostructured Sb/dielectric/metal resonant cavities. These findings open a pathway to optimized planar Sb nanoscale designs enabling a tailored light-matter interaction, which will be useful for integrated data, telecom, medical, optoelectronic and energy conversion devices operating in a broad spectral range.
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BibTeX
@misc{chaconsanchez2026antimony,
title = {{Antimony for broadband nanophotonics across the ultraviolet, visible and infrared}},
author = {Fernando Chacón-Sánchez and Jacek Wojcik and Marina García Pardo and Fátima Cabello and Peter Mascher and Fernando Agulló-Rueda and Rosalía Serna and Johann Toudert},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.11501},
eprint = {2609.11501},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11501},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Antimony for broadband nanophotonics across the ultraviolet, visible and infrared
AU - Fernando Chacón-Sánchez
AU - Jacek Wojcik
AU - Marina García Pardo
AU - Fátima Cabello
AU - Peter Mascher
AU - Fernando Agulló-Rueda
AU - Rosalía Serna
AU - Johann Toudert
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/10
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.11501
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.11501
AB - Semimetal elemental antimony (Sb) nanostructures show great potential for applications where nanophotonic properties play a key role, such as phase-change optical memories, non-linear optical elements, photothermal therapy agents, photodetectors and photocatalysts. However, designing advanced Sb-based photonic devices critically requires an accurate and reliable knowledge of the optical response of bulk and nanoscale Sb. Herein, we report for the first time a fully consistent and accurately measured dielectric function for Sb nanoscale films in a wide spectral range from the ultraviolet to the far infrared (4 - 0.04 eV, i.e. ~ 0.3 - 30 μm), surpassing previous reports that explored a limited spectral range. It is found that the Sb spectral response is driven exclusively by giant interband transitions in the visible up to mid infrared (4 - 0.4 eV, i.e. ~ 0.3 - 3 μm), and that their contribution dominates over that of free carriers down to 0.12 eV (i.e. ~ 10 μm). Such spectral response enables Sb nanostructures to display spectrally selective and tunable nanophotonic resonances. First, we showcase interband plasmonic resonances in the visible-to-near infrared for Sb nanogratings. Second, we report giant refractive index dielectric resonances in the mid infrared for nanostructured Sb/dielectric/metal resonant cavities. These findings open a pathway to optimized planar Sb nanoscale designs enabling a tailored light-matter interaction, which will be useful for integrated data, telecom, medical, optoelectronic and energy conversion devices operating in a broad spectral range.
ER -