Title: Tailoring the energy distribution and loss of 2D plasmons

Abstract

Here, the ability to tailor the energy distribution of plasmons at the nanoscale has many applications in nanophotonics, such as designing plasmon lasers, spasers, and quantum emitters. To this end, we analytically study the energy distribution and the proper field quantization of 2D plasmons with specific examples for graphene plasmons. We find that the portion of the plasmon energy contained inside graphene (energy confinement factor) can exceed 50%, despite graphene being infinitely thin. In fact, this very high energy confinement can make it challenging to tailor the energy distribution of graphene plasmons just by modifying the surrounding dielectric environment or the geometry, such as changing the separation distance between two coupled graphene layers. However, by adopting concepts of parity-time symmetry breaking, we show that tuning the loss in one of the two coupled graphene layers can simultaneously tailor the energy confinement factor and propagation characteristics, causing the phenomenon of loss-induced plasmonic transparency.

Authors:

Lin, Xiao ^[1]; Rivera, Nicholas ^[2]; Lopez, Josue J. ^[2]; Kaminer, Ido ^[2]; Chen, Hongsheng ^[3]; Soljacic, Marin ^[2]

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+ Show Author Affiliations

1. Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (People's Republic of China); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
2. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
3. Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou (People's Republic of China)

Publication Date:

Tue Oct 25 00:00:00 EDT 2016

Research Org.:

Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)

Sponsoring Org.:

USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:

1388440

Grant/Contract Number:  

SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577

Resource Type:

Journal Article: Accepted Manuscript

Journal Name:

New Journal of Physics

Additional Journal Information:

Journal Volume: 18; Journal Issue: 10; Related Information: S3TEC partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (lead); Boston College; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Journal ID: ISSN 1367-2630

Publisher:

IOP Publishing

Country of Publication:

United States

Language:

English

Subject:

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; solar (photovoltaic); solar (thermal); solid state lighting; phonons; thermal conductivity; thermoelectric; defects; mechanical behavior; charge transport; spin dynamics; materials and chemistry by design; optics; synthesis (novel materials); synthesis (self-assembly); synthesis (scalable processing); 2D plasmons; electromagnetic energy; parity-time symmetry; field quantization