Probing low-energy hyperbolic polaritons in van der Waals crystals with an electron microscope

Van der Waals (vdW) materials exhibit intriguing structural, electronic and photonic properties. Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) within Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM) allows for nanoscale mapping of such properties. However, typical STEM-EELS detection is limited to energy losses in the eV range, which are too large for probing important low-energy excitation such as phonons or mid-IR plasmons. Here we adapt a...