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For a transverse electromagnetic plane wave in a nonmagnetic medium, Maxwell's equations give $c^2{k}^2={\omega }^2{ϵ}_r(\omega )$. Set damping to zero and define $u=c^2{k}^2/{ϵ}_{\infty }$. Substitution yieldsso ${\omega }^4-({\omega }_{\mathrm{LO}}^2+u){\omega }^2+u{\omega }_{\mathrm{TO}}^2=0$. Therefore the two phonon polariton branches areTake the nonnegative square root for the positive physical frequencies. At $k=0$, ${\omega }_{-}=0$ and ${\omega }_{+}={\omega }_{\mathrm{LO}}$. At small wavevector the lower branch is photon-like with velocity $c/\sqrt{{ϵ}_r(0)}$; at large wavevector it approaches ${\omega }_{\mathrm{TO}}$ from below. The upper branch ultimately becomes photon-like with velocity $c/\sqrt{{ϵ}_{\infty }}$. There is no real propagating transverse branch with frequency strictly between ${\omega }_{\mathrm{TO}}$ and ${\omega }_{\mathrm{LO}}$ in this lossless bulk model. Coupling changes the eigenmodes from a bare photon crossing a flat oscillator into mixed normal modes.

In Raman scattering, the photon transfers $\hslash \omega =\hslash ({\omega }_i-{\omega }_s)$ and $\mathbf{q}={\mathbf{k}}_i-{\mathbf{k}}_s$ to a collective excitation. Changing scattering geometry selects different $q$ and probes its dispersion.

The open circles rise and then flatten near $45\mathrm{meV}$: they trace the lower transverse phonon polariton branch. It is strongly dispersive on its photon-like side, then becomes predominantly TO-phonon-like and approaches the TO energy at larger wavevector. The open triangles stay near $50\mathrm{meV}$ and are the nearly nondispersive longitudinal optical phonon. Longitudinal motion creates its own polarization field and is shifted above the transverse resonance. It does not hybridize with a propagating transverse photon in the same way, and it should not be misidentified as the upper transverse polariton branch, which rises with wavevector. Raman tensor and polarization selection rules determine which excitation is visible.

Scale qualification: the source horizontal label appears to print $10^{-4}\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$. Taken literally, one plotted unit would have vacuum photon energy only $\hslash c\times 0.01{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}\simeq 2\times 10^{-6}\mathrm{meV}$, inconsistent with the observed tens of meV and the dispersive polariton. The physically compatible scale is of order $10^4\mathrm{c}{\mathrm{m}}^{-1}$; the qualitative branch identification does not require silently treating the printed negative exponent as correct. The original model figure in solution explicitly labels its calculated wavevector scale.