A Primer on Surface Plasmon-Polaritons in Graphene

Abstract

We discuss the properties of surface plasmons-polaritons in graphene and describe three possible ways of coupling electromagnetic radiation in the terahertz (THz) spectral range to this type of surface waves. (i) the attenuated total reflection (ATR) method using a prism in the Otto configuration, (ii) graphene micro-ribbon arrays or monolayers with modulated conductivity, (iii) a metal stripe on top of the graphene layer, and (iv) graphene-based gratings. The text provides a number of original results along with their detailed derivation and discussion.

Modeling the excitation of graphene plasmons in periodic grids of graphene ribbons: An analytical approach

“…3 we have plotted the GSP frequency (corresponding to the fundamental mode) as a function of the doping level, to which we have fitted a function of the type f GSP (n e ) ∝ n b e , having obtained b = 0.249 1/4 for the exponent (fitting parameter). 1 This therefore demonstrates that the observed resonances scale with the electronic density as f GSP ∝ n 1/4 e , which is a specific signature of graphene plasmons [22,24,48,49]. In contrast, in typical 2DEGs a scaling with n 1/2 e is observed instead.…”

“…2). Fortunately, this resonance carries most of the spectral weight (see Appendix A 4) and it clearly dominates the polaritonic spectrum [22,24]; in fact, the resonances that emerge at higher frequencies are often invisible (or barely visible) in many experiments, since they can only be detected for small values of . We now explore the dependence of the GSP-induced absorption spectra on the different parameters of the system.…”

“…Doped graphene is capable of supporting SPPs-graphene surface plasmon polaritons (GSPs) * padgo@fotonik.dtu.dk † peres@fisica.uminho.pt [17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]-in the THz and mid-IR spectral range. These possess tantalizing properties, outperforming traditional noble-metal plasmonics, in that spectral window, in terms of mode confinement, and are predicted to suffer from relatively low losses when compared to conventional three-dimensional (3D) metals [18,19,21,25].…”

Optical bistability of graphene in the terahertz range

“…On the other hand, in the terahertz (THz) spectral range, graphene has the potential for many applications [15][16][17][18].…”

Anomalous reflection phase of graphene plasmons and its influence on resonators

“…Graphene can pave new ways for the development of nanoscale photonic and optoelectronic devices [1]. Graphene plasmons [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] (GPs) are especially interesting due to their ultrastrong confinement, which may lead to a strong enhancement of the light-matter interaction [11][12][13][14][15]. Due to current limitations of the mobility of charge carriers in graphene samples, plasmon propagation lengths are not large compared to the free-space wavelength λ.…”