Polarized optical contrast spectroscopy of in plane anisotropic van der Waals materials

Polarized optical contrast spectroscopy of in plane anisotropic van der Waals materials | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Polarized optical contrast spectroscopy of in plane anisotropic van der Waals materials Ernst Knöckl, Alexandre Bernard, Alexander Holleitner, Christoph Kastl This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5874181/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 May, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted 8 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Polarized optical contrast spectroscopy is a simple and non-destructive approach to characterize the crystalline anisotropy and orientation of two-dimensional materials. Here, we develop a 3D-printed motorized polarization module, which is compatible with typical microscope platforms and enables to perform broadband polarization-resolved reflectance spectroscopy. As proof of principle, we investigate the in-plane birefringence of exfoliated MoO3 thin films and few-layer WTe2 crystals. We compare the measured spectra to a model based on a transfer matrix formalism. Compared to other polarization sensitive approaches, such as Raman or second harmonic generation spectroscopy, optical contrast measurements require orders of magnitude less excitation power densities, which is particularly advantageous to avoid degradation of delicate van der Waals layers. Physical sciences/Materials science/Techniques and instrumentation/Spectroscopy Physical sciences/Materials science Physical sciences/Physics/Condensed matter physics/Surfaces interfaces and thin films Physical sciences/Physics/Optical physics/Micro optics microscopy van der Waals materials birefringence optical anisotropy Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.pdf Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 May, 2025 Read the published version in Scientific Reports → Version 1 posted Editorial decision: Accepted 01 Apr, 2025 Reviews received at journal 31 Mar, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 31 Mar, 2025 Reviews received at journal 30 Mar, 2025 Reviewers agreed at journal 29 Mar, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 29 Mar, 2025 Submission checks completed at journal 27 Mar, 2025 First submitted to journal 20 Mar, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5874181","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":436212909,"identity":"69c8fdc2-c369-4911-a744-4e4564b08362","order_by":0,"name":"Ernst Knöckl","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Munich","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ernst","middleName":"","lastName":"Knöckl","suffix":""},{"id":436212914,"identity":"c001780e-fefd-4d00-a98f-5fb06aaff186","order_by":1,"name":"Alexandre Bernard","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Munich","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alexandre","middleName":"","lastName":"Bernard","suffix":""},{"id":436212915,"identity":"d3bfdbf2-f067-4b5a-872e-0570482fcf3b","order_by":2,"name":"Alexander Holleitner","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Munich","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Alexander","middleName":"","lastName":"Holleitner","suffix":""},{"id":436212916,"identity":"005a2357-be05-4bad-937f-17679b46be21","order_by":3,"name":"Christoph Kastl","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAABDklEQVRIie2PsWrDMBRFXzCoi0hWmUD6CyqBtKX+GHlRpmQJlI6CgrfStdCf8JS1MoJqMc3q4kKTT/Amb5XtuGSQ07WDziIJvcO9D8Dj+Y8QANmcFFBz3MwARqL7kucU1iuMzFtF/qHAqRKL3+kBZfL6dMhqE62vAcVVbcgy3SkRVMkWxlq4Q740VZjxza1AaooZWaWFDcqSEsLcHUMJBwVMxam8EFNbbLUtRp1CCzaoZKZTHmvDyHKxy47K935QkbhV0DuxxdhCxn2Ke31S2GKY8w1ViN9hTq7e7C4y/yhxmLuLTV54UJkoWlOdzD/t5TJ81of9w305G2v3+j0MgpNXM4vPzreKx+PxeIb4AU1gaWPymqQkAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC","orcid":"","institution":"Technical University of Munich","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Christoph","middleName":"","lastName":"Kastl","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-01-21 14:08:27","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5874181/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5874181/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[{"content":"https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-96894-8","type":"published","date":"2025-05-02T15:56:54+00:00"}],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":81987722,"identity":"57b84425-6cb4-4c42-8252-f73d7c85c15d","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-05-05 16:05:17","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":1200114,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"LatexFiles.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5874181/v1_covered_9b85fba1-4adb-4263-863f-502174a81d1a.pdf"},{"id":79635297,"identity":"deca07e6-24d8-4004-91d2-37842eab3e88","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-04-01 04:22:13","extension":"pdf","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":1159180,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"SupplementaryInformation.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5874181/v1/2904898392d997ed52d3f267.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Polarized optical contrast spectroscopy of in plane anisotropic van der Waals materials","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"scientific-reports","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"scirep","sideBox":"Learn more about [Scientific Reports](http://www.nature.com/srep/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Scientific Reports","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"stoa","reportingPortfolio":"Scientific Reports","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"microscopy, van der Waals materials, birefringence, optical anisotropy","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5874181/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-5874181/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Polarized optical contrast spectroscopy is a simple and non-destructive approach to characterize the crystalline anisotropy and orientation of two-dimensional materials. 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