Probing mesoscopic nonlocal screening in van der Waals heterostructures with polaritons

Probing mesoscopic nonlocal screening in van der Waals heterostructures with polaritons | 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 Probing mesoscopic nonlocal screening in van der Waals heterostructures with polaritons Zheng Liu, Xuezhi Ma, Zhipeng Li, Ruihuan Duan, Zeyu Deng, Hao Hu, and 14 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9084035/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Under Review Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Predictive optical modelling of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures is critical for meta-optics, near-field photonics and quantum technologies. At their buried interfaces, charge transfer and spatially extended screening challenge local descriptions based on layer-by-layer stacking of fixed permittivity tensors. However, such nonlocal corrections have been established mainly for plasmonic systems at ångström-nanometre scales and are often assumed negligible on optical-wavelength scales. Here we challenge this view by uncovering a mesoscopic nonlocal screening regime, extending up to ~140 nm, at buried charge-transfer interfaces in transition-metal dichalcogenide/ α -molybdenum trioxide (TMDC/ α -MoO 3 ) phonon-polaritonic heterostructures. Using phonon polaritons as an ultrasensitive probe, we quantify charge transfer from polariton-wavelength shifts and find a thickness-independent saturated response as α -MoO 3 is thinned. Rather than merely complicating optical modelling, this nonlocal saturation turns a design-level correction into an opportunity by yielding a transferable cross-material metric. Across more than 120 devices, this metric scales linearly with the work-function difference between the TMDC and α -MoO 3 . We further identify a lattice-mismatch-set energy threshold for charge transfer, revising Anderson-type band alignment for vdW interfaces. Physical sciences/Physics/Optical physics/Polaritons Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical techniques/Imaging and sensing Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Optical sensors Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files SupplementaryInformation.docx Probing mesoscopic nonlocal screening in van der Waals heterostructures with polaritons Cite Share Download PDF Status: Under Review Version 1 posted 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. 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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-9084035","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":623038563,"identity":"8262fa94-5b05-4747-b6ad-416f0bc3bb74","order_by":0,"name":"Zheng 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At their buried interfaces, charge transfer and spatially extended screening challenge local descriptions based on layer-by-layer stacking of fixed permittivity tensors. However, such nonlocal corrections have been established mainly for plasmonic systems at ångström-nanometre scales and are often assumed negligible on optical-wavelength scales. Here we challenge this view by uncovering a mesoscopic nonlocal screening regime, extending up to ~140 nm, at buried charge-transfer interfaces in transition-metal dichalcogenide/\u003ci\u003eα\u003c/i\u003e-molybdenum trioxide (TMDC/\u003ci\u003eα\u003c/i\u003e-MoO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e) phonon-polaritonic heterostructures. Using phonon polaritons as an ultrasensitive probe, we quantify charge transfer from polariton-wavelength shifts and find a thickness-independent saturated response as \u003ci\u003eα\u003c/i\u003e-MoO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e is thinned. Rather than merely complicating optical modelling, this nonlocal saturation turns a design-level correction into an opportunity by yielding a transferable cross-material metric. Across more than 120 devices, this metric scales linearly with the work-function difference between the TMDC and \u003ci\u003eα\u003c/i\u003e-MoO\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e. We further identify a lattice-mismatch-set energy threshold for charge transfer, revising Anderson-type band alignment for vdW interfaces.","manuscriptTitle":"Probing mesoscopic nonlocal screening in van der Waals heterostructures with polaritons","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2026-04-15 05:11:20","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9084035/v1","editorialEvents":[],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-communications","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"NCOMMS","sideBox":"Learn more about [Nature Communications](http://www.nature.com/ncomms/)","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"https://mts-ncomms.nature.com/","title":"Nature Communications","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":true,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"Nature Communications","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"5b089e31-4938-49f8-83d1-3d5df9414e17","owner":[],"postedDate":"April 15th, 2026","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[{"type":"decision","content":"revise","date":"2026-05-12T17:23:44+00:00","index":"","fulltext":""},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-05-12T13:07:10+00:00","index":2,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-05-07T17:00:30+00:00","index":4,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-05-07T15:33:03+00:00","index":3,"fulltext":"This content is not available."},{"type":"editorInvitedReview","content":"This content is not available.","date":"2026-04-29T15:57:54+00:00","index":1,"fulltext":"This content is not available."}],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"under-review","subjectAreas":[{"id":66303658,"name":"Physical sciences/Physics/Optical physics/Polaritons"},{"id":66303659,"name":"Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Optical techniques/Imaging and sensing"},{"id":66303660,"name":"Physical sciences/Optics and photonics/Applied optics/Optical sensors"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2026-05-12T17:26:46+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2026-04-15 05:11:20","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-9084035","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-9084035","identity":"rs-9084035","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"XKTyCvWXoU3ODBz1xrDgd","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}