Fundamental Limits to graphene plasmonics

ORAL

Abstract

Polaritons are hybrid excitations of light and matter that can confine the energy of long-wavelength radiation at the nano-scale. Plasmon polaritons may enable many enigmatic quantum effects including lasing, topological protection, and dipole-forbidden absorption. A necessary condition for realizing such phenomena is a long polariton lifetime, which is notoriously difficult to meet. Plasmon polaritons in graphene provide a platform for exploring light-matter interaction at the nano-scale. However, plasmonic dissipation in graphene has remained substantial and its fundamental limits remained undetermined. Here we use nanometre-scale infrared imaging to investigate propagating plasmon polaritons in high-mobility encapsulated graphene at cryogenic temperatures. In this regime, the propagation of plasmon polaritons is primarily restricted by the dielectric losses of the encapsulated layers, with a minor contribution from electron–phonon interactions. At liquid-nitrogen temperatures, the intrinsic plasmonic propagation length can exceed 50 plasmonic wavelengths, thus setting a record for highly confined and tunable polariton modes.

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Presenters

  • GuangXin Ni

    • Physics, Columbia University
    • Columbia University

Authors

  • GuangXin Ni

    • Physics, Columbia University
    • Columbia University

  • McLeod Swinton Alexander

    • Columbia University

  • Zhiyuan Sun

    • Physics, Columbia University
    • Columbia University
    • Department of Physics, Columbia University

  • Lei Wang

    • Cornell University
    • Physics, Cornell University
    • Columbia University

  • Lin Xiong

    • Physics, Columbia University
    • Columbia University

  • Kirk W Post

    • University of California San Diego

  • Sai Sunku

    • Department of Applied Physics and Mathematics, Columbia University in the City of New York
    • Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York 10027
    • Columbia University

  • Bor-Yuan Jiang

    • University of California San Diego
    • UC San Diego

  • James Hone

    • Columbia University
    • Mechanics, Columbia University
    • Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University in the City of New York
    • Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University
    • Department of Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027 USA
    • Mechanical Engineering, Columbia University

  • Cory R Dean

    • Columbia University
    • Department of Physics, Columbia University in the City of New York
    • Department of Physics, Columbia University
    • Physics, Columbia University
    • Physics Department, Columbia University

  • Michael Fogler

    • University of California, San Diego
    • Physics, University of California, San Diego
    • University of California San Diego
    • UC San Diego

  • Dimitri Basov

    • Department of Physics, Columbia University in the City of New York
    • Department of Physics, Columbia University, New York 10027
    • department of physics, columbia university
    • Department of Physics, Columbia University
    • Physics, Columbia University
    • Columbia University