UC Berkeley

Strain plays an important role in condensed matter physics and materials science because it can strongly modify the mechanical, electrical, and optical properties of a material and even induce a structural phase transition. Strain effects are especially interesting in atomically thin two-dimensional (2D) materials, where unusually large strain can be achieved without breaking them. Measuring the strain distribution in 2D materials at the nanometer scale is therefore greatly important but is extremely challenging experimentally. Here, we use near-field infrared nanoscopy to demonstrate phonon polariton-assisted mapping and quantitative analysis of strain in atomically thin polar crystals of hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) at the nanoscale. A local strain as low as 0.01% can be detected using this method with ∼20 nm spatial resolution. Such ultrasensitive nanoscale strain imaging and analysis technique opens up opportunities for exploring unique local strain structures and strain-related physics in 2D materials. In addition, experimental evidence for local strain-induced phonon polariton reflection is also provided, which offers a new approach to manipulate light at deep subwavelength scales for nanophotonic devices.