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Broadband gate-tunable terahertz plasmons in graphene heterostructures

Nature Photonics volume 12, pages 22–28 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Graphene, a unique two-dimensional material comprising carbon in a honeycomb lattice1, has brought breakthroughs across electronics, mechanics and thermal transport, driven by the quasiparticle Dirac fermions obeying a linear dispersion2,3. Here, we demonstrate a counter-pumped all-optical difference frequency process to coherently generate and control terahertz plasmons in atomic-layer graphene with octave-level tunability and high efficiency. We leverage the inherent surface asymmetry of graphene for strong second-order nonlinear polarizability4,5, which, together with tight plasmon field confinement, enables a robust difference frequency signal at terahertz frequencies. The counter-pumped resonant process on graphene uniquely achieves both energy and momentum conservation. Consequently, we demonstrate a dual-layer graphene heterostructure with terahertz charge- and gate-tunability over an octave, from 4.7 THz to 9.4 THz, bounded only by the pump amplifier optical bandwidth. Theoretical modelling supports our single-volt-level gate tuning and optical-bandwidth-bounded 4.7 THz phase-matching measurements through the random phase approximation, with phonon coupling, saturable absorption and below the Landau damping, to predict and understand graphene plasmon physics.

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Fig. 1: Generating and controlling terahertz plasmons in graphene heterostructures via counter-pumped all-optical nonlinear processes.
Fig. 2: Observation and gate tunability of the DFG graphene plasmons.
Fig. 3: Counter-pumped phase-matching conditions.
Fig. 4: Conversion efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank E. Kinigstein, M. Hoff, J. Lim, J. Yang, Y.-P. Lai and Y. Li for discussions and H. Liu for help with the buffered oxide etch. Chip fabrication was also supported by the Nanoelectronics Research Facilities (NRF) of UCLA. The authors acknowledge support from the National Science Foundation (DMR-1611598, CBET-1520949 and EFRI-1433541), the Office of Naval Research (N00014-15-1-2368) and the University of California National Laboratory programme. This work was also supported by the National Science Foundation of China (61705032) and the 111 project of China (B14039).

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Author notes

  1. Baicheng Yao

    Present address: Cambridge Graphene Center, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

  2. Zhenda Xie

    Present address: National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures and School of Electronic Science and Engineering, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China

  3. Mingbin Yu

    Present address: Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology, and Shanghai Industrial Technology Research Institute, Shanghai, China

  4. Dim-Lee Kwong

    Present address: Institute for Infocomm Research, Singapore, Singapore

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fang Lu Mesoscopic Optics and Quantum Electronics Laboratory, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Baicheng Yao, Shu-Wei Huang, Chanyeol Choi, Zhenda Xie, Jaime Flor Flores & Chee Wei Wong

  2. Key Laboratory of Optical Fiber Sensing and Communications (Education Ministry of China), University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China

    Baicheng Yao, Yu Wu & Yunjiang Rao

  3. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Yuan Liu & Yu Huang

  4. California Nanosystems Institute, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Yuan Liu, Yu Huang & Xiangfeng Duan

  5. Institute of Microelectronics, Singapore, Singapore

    Mingbin Yu & Dim-Lee Kwong

  6. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Xiangfeng Duan

  7. Department of Electrical, Computer, and Energy Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA

    Shu-Wei Huang

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Contributions

B.Y. designed and led the work. B.Y., S.-W.H. and Z.X. performed optical measurements and data analysis. B.Y., C.C., J.F.F., M.Y. and D.-L.K. performed silicon nitride chip processing. Y.L., Y.H. and X.D. conducted graphene material growth and characterizations, designed and fabricated the graphene devices, and conducted the relevant electrical measurements. B.Y., Y.L. and C.C. contributed the device characterizations. C.W.W. and Y.R. supported and supervised the research. B.Y., S.H., Z.X. and Y.W. discussed and performed the theoretical analysis and simulations. B.Y., S.H., Y.R. and C.W.W. prepared the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Baicheng Yao, Xiangfeng Duan or Chee Wei Wong.

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Yao, B., Liu, Y., Huang, SW. et al. Broadband gate-tunable terahertz plasmons in graphene heterostructures. Nature Photon 12, 22–28 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-017-0054-7

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