近日，中国科学院国家纳米科学中心杨晓霞团队报道了基于双曲极化激元的皮米级层间形变探测。相关论文于2026年6月17日发表在《自然》杂志上。

范德华（vdW）材料耐受强应变场的特性，使其成为调控电子、光学与磁学性质的理想研究平台。尽管面内应变的表征手段已较为成熟，但针对面外应变开展无损定量表征仍颇具难度，对于界面处皮米级的微小形变而言更是如此。

研究组提出一种极化激元光学检测方法，利用中红外面外双曲极化激元（oHPs）模型，实现对典型范德华极性绝缘体——六方氮化硼（hBN）层间形变的探测。该方法依托层间应变引发的面外横向光学（oTO）声子软化效应，可高灵敏检测皮米级形变。

这类oTO声子模态在常规光谱中通常属于“暗模”，借助oHPs可激活其应变响应，最终实现约10 pm（约为探测波长的8×10-7倍）的原子位移探测灵敏度，实现超深亚波长尺度的层间力学形变检测。

研究组分别在平面hBN样品和量子点-hBN纳米管异质结的隐埋界面上完成了实验验证。这种基于极化激元的皮米测量技术打通了纳米力学与光子学的交叉研究路径，提供了一种无损表征手段，可实现原子级精度可视化观测隐蔽应力分布场。

附：英文原文

Title: Probing picometre-scale interlayer deformations via hyperbolic polaritons

Author: Zhang, Shu, Guo, Xiangdong, Zhang, Xiaowen, Yang, Jiashu, Yu, Qinzheng, Mou, Zhengyang, Wu, Bingze, Wu, Chenchen, Yang, Shiyu, Lan, Yongxin, He, Peiyi, Shi, Jing, Feng, Kaijun, Gao, Yuxiang, Zheng, Qiang, Zhang, Shuang, Garca de Abajo, F. Javier, Sun, Zhipei, Yao, Mingguang, Ding, Feng, Gao, Peng, Yang, Xiaoxia, Dai, Qing

Issue&Volume: 2026-06-17

Abstract: The resilience of van der Waals (vdW) materials to large strain fields makes them an ideal platform for tuning electronic, optical and magnetic properties1,2,3,4. Although in-plane strain is readily mapped, non-invasive and quantitative characterization of out-of-plane strain remains a formidable challenge, particularly for picometre-scale deformations buried at interfaces. Here we demonstrate a polaritonic optical method that uses the mid-infrared out-of-plane hyperbolic polaritons (oHPs) mode to detect interlayer deformations in prototypical vdW polar insulator–hexagonal boron nitride (hBN). This method uses the softening mechanism of out-of-plane transverse optical (oTO) phonons induced by interlayer strain, enabling highly sensitive detection of picometre-scale deformations. Although these oTO phonon modes are typically spectroscopically ‘dark’, their strain response is activated through the oHPs, achieving an atomic displacement sensitivity of about 10pm (about 8×107 times the probing wavelength), enabling ultradeep-subwavelength mechanical interlayer deformation detection. This is experimentally validated in both planar hBN and at the buried interface of quantum dot–hBN nanotube heterostructures. This polariton-based picometrology bridges nanomechanics and photonics, providing a non-destructive lens to visualize hidden stress landscapes with atomic precision.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10638-w

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10638-w

期刊信息

Nature：《自然》，创刊于1869年。隶属于施普林格·自然出版集团，最新IF：69.504

官方网址：http://www.nature.com/

投稿链接：http://www.nature.com/authors/submit_manuscript.html