A milestone discovery of waveguides based on two-dimensional materials with “exotic” properties has been achieved, according to researchers with the United States Naval Research Laboratory (NRL).
The breakthrough was achieved during studies involving hexagonal boron nitride, a two-dimensional material, by the U.S. Navy’s official corporate research lab while working with researchers from Kansas State University.
EXPERIMENTS IN THE REALM OF 2D MATERIALS
2D materials are a unique class of substances that result from the reduction of a material to its recognized monolayer limits through processes of mechanical peeling. This results in a unique class of ultra-thin 2D materials which have a variety of applications.
The most famous 2D material is graphene, which is formed from bonded carbon atoms to create a sheet that is just one atom in thickness. Such materials can be separated into layers by exploiting what is known as the van der Waals attraction, which describes an attracting force between atoms or molecules that is dependent on distance, rather than chemical bonding.
Following successful recent experiments with graphene, researchers have engaged in experimentation with other novel 2D materials, including hexagonal boron nitride (BN), the softest and most stable of BN’s forms which has already seen applications as a lubricant in machine components, as well as in some cosmetic products.
However, of greater interest to studies at the NRL are the ways these materials can be leveraged at the nanoscale level. This makes them particularly useful for developing applications where extremely thin optical and electrical components are necessary.
Hexagonal boron nitride is a particularly special case, given that past samples examined by NRL scientists revealed its potentially useful optical qualities. However, further studies soon revealed a surprise: that the compound possessed other hidden, and extremely promising capabilities.
Hellbound and Down 