Nan, LinLinNanMancini, AndreaAndreaManciniWeber, ThomasThomasWeberSeah, Geok LengGeok LengSeahCortés, EmilianoEmilianoCortésTittl, AndreasAndreasTittlMaier, Stefan A.Stefan A.Maier2026-03-132026-03-132025-05-16Nature Photonics 19 (6): 615-623 (2025)https://hdl.handle.net/11420/62042Quasi-bound states in the continuum (qBICs) achieved through symmetry breaking in photonic metasurfaces are a powerful approach for engineering resonances with high quality factors and tunability. However, miniaturization of these devices is limited as the in-plane unit-cell size typically scales linearly with the resonant wavelength. By contrast, polariton resonators can be deeply subwavelength, offering a promising solution for achieving compact devices. Here we demonstrate that low-loss mid-infrared surface phonon polaritons enable metasurfaces supporting qBICs with unit-cell volumes up to 10⁵ times smaller than the free-space volume λ03. Using 100-nm-thick free-standing silicon carbide membranes, we achieve highly confined qBIC states with exceptional robustness against incident-angle variations, a feature unique among qBIC systems. This absence of angular dispersion enables mid-infrared vibrational sensing of thin, weakly absorbing molecular layers using a reflective objective, a method that typically degrades resonance quality in standard qBIC metasurfaces. We introduce surface-phonon-polariton-based qBICs as a platform for ultraconfined nanophotonic systems, advancing the miniaturization of mid-infrared sensors and devices for thermal radiation engineering.en1749-489320256615623Nature Publ. GroupTechnology::600: TechnologyJournal Article10.1038/s41566-025-01670-9Journal Article