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Atomically localized plasmon enhancement in monolayer graphene

Nature Nanotechnology volume 7, pages 161–165 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

Plasmons in graphene1,2,3,4 can be tuned by using electrostatic gating or chemical doping5,6,7, and the ability to confine plasmons in very small regions could have applications in optoelectronics8,9, plasmonics10,11 and transformation optics12. However, little is known about how atomic-scale defects influence the plasmonic properties of graphene. Moreover, the smallest localized plasmon resonance observed in any material to date has been limited to around 10 nm (refs 13, 14, 15). Here, we show that surface plasmon resonances in graphene can be enhanced locally at the atomic scale. Using electron energy-loss spectrum imaging in an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope, we find that a single point defect can act as an atomic antenna in the petahertz (1015 Hz) frequency range, leading to surface plasmon resonances at the subnanometre scale.

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Figure 1: Atomic structure of a point defect complex in monolayer graphene.
Figure 2: STEM-EELS line scan across a point defect in monolayer graphene.
Figure 3: Plasmon map of monolayer graphene with a single substitutional silicon atom.
Figure 4: Plasmon map of monolayer graphene with two adjacent substitutional silicon atoms far away from multilayer regions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank B.S. Guiton, S.V. Kalinin, R.F. Klie, A.R. Lupini, and M.P. Oxley for helpful discussions and comments. This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (grant no. DMR-0938330; W.Z., J-C.I.); Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL) SHaRE User Facility (J.C.I.), which is sponsored by the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US Department of Energy (DOE); the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division, US DOE (S.J.P., J.L., S.T.P.), DOE grant DE-FG02-09ER46554 (S.T.P.); and by the McMinn Endowment (S.T.P.) at Vanderbilt University. This research used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center, which is supported by the Office of Science of the US DOE (contract no. DE-AC02-05CH11231).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, 37235, Tennessee, USA

    Wu Zhou, Jaekwang Lee, Sokrates T. Pantelides, Stephen J. Pennycook & Juan-Carlos Idrobo

  2. Materials Science and Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, 37831, Tennessee, USA

    Wu Zhou, Jaekwang Lee, Jagjit Nanda, Sokrates T. Pantelides, Stephen J. Pennycook & Juan-Carlos Idrobo

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  1. Wu Zhou
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  2. Jaekwang Lee
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  3. Jagjit Nanda
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  4. Sokrates T. Pantelides
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  6. Juan-Carlos Idrobo
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Contributions

W.Z, J.N., S.J.P. and J-C.I. conceived the experiments. W.Z. and J-C.I. designed and carried out the experiments, performed the data analysis, and co-wrote the paper. W.Z. performed the image simulations. J.L., S.T.P. and J-C.I. performed the first-principles calculations. J.N. provided the sample. S.J.P. initiated the aberration-corrected microscopy project at ORNL and provided advice regarding the manuscript. All authors discussed the results and commented on the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wu Zhou or Juan-Carlos Idrobo.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Zhou, W., Lee, J., Nanda, J. et al. Atomically localized plasmon enhancement in monolayer graphene. Nature Nanotech 7, 161–165 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2011.252

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