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Real-space mapping of tailored sheet and edge plasmons in graphene nanoresonators

Nature Photonics volume 10, pages 239–243 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

Plasmons in graphene nanoresonators have many potential applications in photonics and optoelectronics, including room-temperature infrared and terahertz photodetectors, sensors, reflect arrays or modulators1,2,3,4,5,6,7. The development of efficient devices will critically depend on precise knowledge and control of the plasmonic modes. Here, we use near-field microscopy8,9,10,11 between λ0 = 10–12 μm to excite and image plasmons in tailored disk and rectangular graphene nanoresonators, and observe a rich variety of coexisting Fabry–Perot modes. Disentangling them by a theoretical analysis allows the identification of sheet and edge plasmons, the latter exhibiting mode volumes as small as 10−8λ03. By measuring the dispersion of the edge plasmons we corroborate their superior confinement compared with sheet plasmons, which among others could be applied for efficient 1D coupling of quantum emitters12. Our understanding of graphene plasmon images is a key to unprecedented in-depth analysis and verification of plasmonic functionalities in future flatland technologies.

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Figure 1: GP modes in graphene disk nanoresonators on an SiO2 substrate.
Figure 2: GP modes in rectangular graphene nanoresonators on a 5-nm-thick SiO2 film on a CaF2 substrate.
Figure 3: Dispersion of sheet and edge GPs in a large graphene structure on an SiO2 substrate.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge support from the European Union through ERC starting grants (TERATOMO grant no. 258461, SPINTROS grant no. 257654 and CarbonLight grant no. 307806), the European Commission under the Graphene Flagship (contract no. CNECTICT-604391) and the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MAT2014-53432-C5-4-R, MAT2012-36580, MAT2012-37638, RYC-2012-12281, FIS2013-47161-P and ‘Severo Ochoa’ Programme for Centres of Excellence R&D grant no. SEV-2015-0522). F.K. acknowledges support from the Fundacio Cellex Barcelona, the ERC Career integration grant (294056, GRANOP), the EC project GRASP (FP7-ICT-2013-613024-GRASP) and the Government of Catalonia through the SGR grant (2014-SGR-1535).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CIC nanoGUNE, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    A. Y. Nikitin, P. Alonso-González, S. Vélez, S. Mastel, F. Casanova & L. E. Hueso

  2. IKERBASQUE, Basque Foundation for Science, 48011 Bilbao, Spain

    A. Y. Nikitin, F. Casanova, L. E. Hueso & R. Hillenbrand

  3. Institute of Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, 100190, China

    P. Alonso-González

  4. Graphenea SA, 20018 Donostia-San Sebastián, Spain

    A. Centeno, A. Pesquera & A. Zurutuza

  5. ICFO-Institut de Ciències Fotòniques, The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, 08860 Castelldefels, Barcelona, Spain

    F. H. L. Koppens

  6. ICREA – Institució Catalana de Recerça i Estudis Avancats, Barcelona, E-08010, Spain

    F. H. L. Koppens

  7. CIC NanoGUNE and UPV/EHU, Donostia-San Sebastian, 20018, Spain

    R. Hillenbrand

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Contributions

A.Y.N., P.A.G. and R.H. conceived the study. S.V. patterned the graphene nanoresonators. A.C. and A.P. prepared the CVD graphene. A.Z., F.C. and L.E.H. coordinated the fabrication. P.A.G. and S.M. performed the experiments. A.Y.N. developed the theory and performed the simulations. A.Y.N., P.A.G., F.H.L.K. and R.H. analysed the data and discussed the results. A.Y.N. and R.H. wrote the manuscript with the input of P.A.G. All authors contributed to the scientific discussion and manuscript revisions.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to A. Y. Nikitin or R. Hillenbrand.

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Competing interests

R.H. is a co-founder of Neaspec GmbH, a company producing scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscope systems such as the one used in this study. All other authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Nikitin, A., Alonso-González, P., Vélez, S. et al. Real-space mapping of tailored sheet and edge plasmons in graphene nanoresonators. Nature Photon 10, 239–243 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphoton.2016.44

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