Abstract. -It is shown that one can explore the optical conductivity of graphene, together with the ability of controlling its electronic density by an applied gate voltage, in order to achieve resonant coupling between an external electromagnetic radiation and surface plasmon-polaritons in the graphene layer. This opens the possibility of electrical control of the intensity of light reflected inside a prism placed on top of the graphene layer, by switching between the regimes of total reflection and total absorption. The predicted effect can be used to build graphene-based opto-electronic switches.Among the many promised graphene dreams [1-3], the possibility of exploring the electronic, thermal, and mechanical properties of graphene, having in view a new generation of optoelectronic devices, is one of the most exciting of those dreams. Understanding the fundamental physics of the interaction of electrons (in graphene) with an electromagnetic field is a key step toward the realization of such devices.The optical response of graphene has been an active field of research, both experimental [4][5][6][7] and theoretical [8][9][10], and much is already understood. From the theoretical point of view, the independent electron approximation predicts that the real part of optical conductivity of graphene, at zero temperature, has the form σ = σ 0 θ( ω − 2µ), where σ 0 = πe 2 /(2 ) is the AC universal conductivity of graphene, ω is the photon energy, µ is the chemical potential, and θ(x) is the Heaviside step function. The imaginary part of the conductivity is finite everywhere, as long as µ is also finite [11]. For zero chemical potential, the experiments [4,5,7] confirm the independent electron model predictions. On the other hand, for finite chemical potential and ω < 2µ, the experiments show a substantial absorption in this energy range, at odds with the theoretical prediction. In simple terms, the real part of the conductivity, as measured experimentally, follows roughly the formula, where E D is the energy at which the Drude peak starts developing. Below E D , the optical response increases dramatically. The difference between experiment and theory can be explained by both interband and intra-band scattering, due to impurities and electronelectron interactions. In what concerns our present study, the deviations seen in the experimental data are actually vital for the effect we discuss below, and therefore the calculations we present below use the experimentally measured conductivity of graphene. The exact form of σ(ω) below the 2µ threshold is essential for the particular type of interaction of the electrons in graphene with an electromagnetic field leading to the formation of surface plasmon-polaritons [12].Surface plasmon-polariton (SPP) is an evanescent electromagnetic wave induced by the coupling of the electromagnetic field to the electrons near the surface of a metal or a semiconductor. Its amplitude decays exponentially at both sides of the interface. The SPP properties are determined by the dielectric funct...