  Polaritonic excitation and control in van der Waals (vdW) materials exhibit
superior merits than conventional materials and thus hold new promise for
exploring light matter interactions. In this work, we created vdW
heterostructures combining hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) and a representative
phase change material - vanadium dioxide (VO2). Using infrared
nano-spectroscopy and nano-imaging, we demonstrated the dynamic tunability of
hyperbolic phonon polaritons in hBN/VO2 heterostructures by temperature control
in a precise and reversible fashion. The dynamic tuning of the polaritons stems
from the change of local dielectric properties of the VO2 sublayer through
insulator to metal transition by the temperature control. The high
susceptibility of polaritons to electronic phase transitions opens
possibilities for applications of vdW materials in combination with correlated
phase change materials.
