Chenglong Wan

Graphene circular polarization analyzer based on unidirectional excitation of plasmons

In this paper we propose a method of unidirectional excitation of graphene plasmons via metal nanoantenna arrays and reveal its application in a circular polarization analyzer. For nanoantenna pairs with orthogonal orientations, the graphene plasmons are excited through antenna resonances with the direction of propagation can be controlled by incident polarization. On the other hand, based on the spiral shape distribution of antenna arrays, a circular polarization analyzer can be obtained via the interaction of geometric phase effect of antenna arrays and the chirality carried by incident polarization. By utilizing the unidirectional excitation of plasmons, the extinction ratio of analyzer can be improved to over 103, which is at least an order of magnitude larger than the result of antenna pairs with same orientations or antenna arrays with closed circular shape formation. The proposed analyzer may find applications in analyzing chiral molecules using different circularly polarized waves.

Tunable graphene-coated spiral dielectric lens as a circular polarization analyzer

We propose a tunable circular polarization analyzer based on a graphene-coated spiral dielectric lens. Spatially separated solid dot shape (or donut shape) field can be achieved if the geometric shape of analyzer and incident circular polarization possess the opposite (or same) chirality. Moreover, distinct from the narrow working bandwidth of a traditional circular polarization analyzer, the focusing and defocusing effects in the analyzer are independent of the chemical potential of graphene, and depend only on the dielectric permittivities and the grating occupation ratio. Combined with the strong tunability of graphene plasmons, the operation wavelength of analyzer can be tuned by adjusting the graphene chemical potential without degrading the performance. The proposed analyzer could be used in applications in chemistry or biology, such as analyzing the physiological properties of chiral molecules based on circular polarization.

Magnetically-Controlled Logic Gates of Graphene Plasmons Based on Non-Reciprocal Coupling

In this paper, we propose magnetically-controlled logic gates of graphene plasmons based on non-reciprocal coupling within the multilayer graphene waveguide structure. The magnetooptical effect of semiconductor substrate leads to the difference in modal indices of graphene plasmons in opposite directions and non-reciprocal coupling, which is investigated by both coupled mode theory (CMT) and finite elements methods (FEM). Such a mechanism enables the design of magnetically- controlled NOT logic gate, whose output logic can be inversed by reversing the plasmons propagation directions. Furthermore, according to the Boolean algebra, we design two functional logic gates performing as OR (AND) logic gates for one direction of input plasmons, while NAND (NOR) logic gates for the reversed input direction. Minimum extinction ratios as 13.6 or 17.5 dB can be obtained for OR (NAND) or AND (NOR) logic gate. The proposed magnetically-controlled logic gates may provide new inspiration to non-reciprocal graphene plasmons devices.

Broadband metasurface absorber for solar thermal applications

In this paper we propose a broadband polarization-independent selective absorber for solar thermal applications. It is based on a metal-dielectric-metal metasurface structure, but with an interlayer of absorbing amorphous carbon rather than a low loss dielectric. Optical absorbance results derived from finite difference time domain modelling are shown for ultra-thin carbon layers in air and on 200 nm of gold for a range of carbon thicknesses. A gold-amorphous carbon-gold trilayer with a top layer consisting of a 1D grating is then optimised in 2D to give a sharp transition from strong absorption up to 2 μm to strong reflection above 2 μm resulting in good solar selective performance. The gold was replaced by the high-melting-point metal tungsten, which is shown to have very similar performance to the gold case. 3D simulations then show that the gold-based structure performs well as a square periodic array of squares, however there is low absorption around 400 nm. A cross-based structure is found to increase this absorption without significantly reducing the performance at longer wavelengths.

Dyakonov surface waves at the interface between hexagonal-boron-nitride and isotropic material

In this paper we analyze the propagation of Dyakonov surface waves (DSWs) at the interface between hexagonal-boron-nitride (h-BN) and isotropic dielectric material. Various properties of DSWs supported at the dielectric-elliptic and dielectric-hyperbolic types of interfaces have been theoretically investigated, including the real effective index, propagation length, the angular existence domain (AED) and the composition ratio of evanescent field components in an h-BN crystal and isotropic dielectric material, respectively. The analysis in this paper reveals that h-BN could be a promising anisotropic material to observe the propagation of DSWs and may have potential diverse applications, such as high sensitivity stress sensing or optical sensing of analytes infiltrating dielectric materials.

Graphene circular polarization analyzer based on spiral metal triangle antennas arrays.

In this paper we propose a circular polarization analyzer based on spiral metal triangle antenna arrays deposited on graphene. Via the dipole antenna resonances, plasmons are excited on graphene surface and the wavefront can be tailed by arranging metal antennas into linetype, circular or spiral arrays. Especially, for spiral antenna arrays, the geometric phase effect can be cancelled by or superposed on the chirality carried within circular polarization incidence, producing spatially separated solid dot or donut shape fields at the center. Such a phenomenon enables the graphene based spiral metal triangle antennas arrays to achieve functionality as a circular polarization analyzer. Extinction ratio over 550 can be achieved and the working wavelength can be tuned by adjusting graphene Fermi level dynamically. The proposed analyzer may find applications in analyzing chiral molecules using different circularly polarized waves.

Two-Dimensional Analogies to Frequency-Selective Surfaces (FSS) on the Graphene Sheet

In this paper, we propose that two-dimensional analogies to frequency-selective surfaces (FSS) can be achieved on graphene surfaces based on transformation optics. The analogies to representative FSS structures, including the anti-reflecting coating (ARC) and the high-reflecting coating (Bragg reflector), have been investigated through both analytical effective-index method (EIM)/transfer-matrix method (TMM) and numerical simulations. Both analytical and numerical solutions have shown that the propagation of plasmons on graphene surface with periodic chemical potentials can be an analogy to the interaction of incident light with traditional FSS multilayer dielectric media in which the transmission or reflection can be obtained by EIM/TMM. Combined with the tunability of graphene, the transmission or reflection of plasmons can be tuned by adjusting the bias voltage. The proposed structures and theoretical methods may provide new visions for achieving two-dimensional analogies to traditional structures on graphene.

Biomimetic 'moth-eye' anti-reflection boundary for graphene plasmons circuits

In this paper we propose the anti-reflection boundary design for planar graphene plasmons (GPs) circuits based on biomimetic moth-eye structures. The anti-reflection functionalities are investigated by analytical effective medium theory combined with transfer matrix method and numerical finite element method. Both analytical and numerical methods have shown that average reflection losses of 1% can be achieved within the mid-infrared region. Moreover, for plasmons with a very wide incident angle, the performance of such anti-reflection boundary could still be maintained, achieving less than 1% reflection up to 60° incident angle. The proposed moth-eye anti-reflection boundary would be helpful for the future development of high integration GPs circuits.