Gui-Dong Liu

Combined theoretical analysis for plasmon-induced transparency in integrated graphene waveguides with direct and indirect couplings

By taking a graphene nanoribbon as a resonator, we have numerically and analytically investigated the spectral characteristics of plasmon-induced transparency in integrated graphene waveguides. For the indirect coupling, the formation and evolution of the transparency window are determined by the excitation of the super resonances, as well as by the destructive interference and the coupling strength between the two resonators, respectively, while for the indirect coupling, the peak transmission and corresponding quality factor can be dynamically tuned by adjusting the Fermi energy of graphene nanoribbons and the transparency peak shifts periodicity with the round-trip phase accumulated in the graphene waveguide region. Analytical results based on temporal coupled mode theory (CMT) show good consistence with the numerical calculations. Our findings may support the design of ultra-compact plasmonic devices for optical modulating.

Actively Tunable Fano Resonance Based on a T-Shaped Graphene Nanodimer

We present the strength modulation and frequency tuning of Fano resonance by employing a graphene nanodimer formed by two coplanar perpendicular nanostrips with different dimensions. The Fano resonance is induced by destructive interference between the bright dipole mode of a short nanostrip and the dark quadrupole mode of a long nanostrip. The strength, line width, and resonance frequency of the Fano resonance can be actively modulated by changing the spatial separation of those two graphene nanostrips and the Fermi energy of the graphene nanodimer, respectively, without re-fabricating the nanostructures. The tuning of the strength and resonance frequency can be attributed to the coupling strength and optical properties of graphene, respectively. Importantly, a figure of merit value as high as 39 is achieved in the proposed nanostructures. Our results may provide potential applications in optical switching and bio-chemical sensing.

Realization of Graphene-Based Tunable Plasmon-Induced Transparency by the Dipole-Dipole Coupling

A numerical and theoretical study is presented on the realization of tunable plasmon-induced transparency (PIT) phenomenon in the three-dimensional patterned graphene nanostrips. The simulation results reveal that the PIT effect is generated due to the excitation of dark mode which can be considered a dipole. The three-level plasmonic system is employed to explain the physical mechanism of the PIT effect. Different from previous reported form (dipole-quadrupole coupling), the proposed is attributed to the dipole-dipole coupling. The PIT effect can be tuned by changing the coupling length between bright and dark mode as well as the Fermi energy of graphene. Our studies provide guidance for fabricating ultra-compact devices in practical application.

A novel design of plasmon-induced absorption sensor

We present a plasmon-induced absorption (PIA) sensor formed by using a notched metallic film and a metallic ground plane separated by dielectric gratings, suggesting perfect absorption and high sensitivity up to ~105. The absorption mechanism for the narrow-band sensor involves the phase-dependent coupling between the localized surface plasmon resonance and the Fabry–Perot resonance. The intensity and lineshape of the PIA resonance can be controlled by optimizing the coupling distance and thickness of the dielectric gratings, respectively. In particular, the underlying physics and critical condition for pronounced PIA resonance are illustrated by the coupled Lorentzian oscillator model.

Tunable graphene-based plasmonic multispectral and narrowband perfect metamaterial absorbers at the mid-infrared region

We numerically investigate the optical performance of a periodically patterned H-shaped graphene array by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) in the mid-infrared region. The simulated results reveal that absorption spectra of the proposed structure consist of two dramatic narrowband perfect absorption peaks located at 6.3 μm (Mode 1) and 8.6 μm (Mode 2) with high absorption coefficients of 99.65% and 99.80%, respectively. Two impressive absorption bandwidths that are the full width at half-maximum (FWHM) of the resonant frequency of 90 nm and 188 nm are obtained. The dipole resonance mode is supported by graphene ribbon at a wavelength of 6.3 μm. While the other absorption, attributed to the hybridized mode, is a new resonance that is different from the dipole resonance. The spectral position of the absorption peaks can be dynamically tuned by controlling the refractive index of the dielectric and the Fermi energy of graphene. Furthermore, we can obtain multispectral absorption peaks by applying multilayer graphene arrays. These design approaches enable us to control the number of absorption spectra and such absorbers will benefit the easy-to-fabricate nanophotonic devices for optical filtering, thermal detectors, and electromagnetic wave energy storage.

Toroidal resonance based optical modulator employing hybrid graphene-dielectric metasurface

In this paper, we demonstrate the combination of a dielectric metasurface with a graphene layer to realize a high performance toroidal resonance based optical modulator. The dielectric metasurface consists of two mirrored asymmetric silicon split-ring resonators (ASSRRs) that can support strong toroidal dipolar resonance with narrow line width (~0.77 nm) and high quality (Q)-factor (~1702) and contrast ratio (~100%). Numerical simulation results show that the transmission amplitude of the toroidal dipolar resonance can be efficiently modulated by varying the Fermi energy EF when the graphene layer is integrated with the dielectric metasurface, and a max transmission coefficient difference up to 78% is achieved indicating that the proposed hybrid graphene/dielectric metasurface shows good performance as an optical modulator. The effects of the asymmetry degree of the ASSRRs on the toroidal dipolar resonance are studied and the efficiency of the transmission amplitude modulation of graphene is also investigated. Our results may also provide potential applications in optical filter and bio-chemical sensing.

Excitation of surface plasmons in sinusoidally shaped graphene nanoribbons

One of the key challenges that graphene plasmonics face is achieving efficient coupling to external light. In this paper, this difficulty is overcome by a concept that is capable of exciting localized surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) in flat gratings formed by sinusoidally shaping graphene nanoribbons. These gratings enable the parallel-polarized light to couple into SPPs, creating a sharp notch with an ultrahigh Q-factor on the transmission spectrum. Besides, the excited SPPs can be tuned not only by adjusting the geometrical parameters (arc length of the sinusoidal grating and the ribbon width) but also by changing the Fermi level of graphene. After reasonably considering the amplitude and period of the 2D grating, both the theoretical analyses and the numerical results demonstrate the applicable properties of this structure. This work provides a framework for understanding the mechanism of plasmon excitations and designing tunable 2D plasmonic devices, such as filters, switches, and sensors.

Dirac semimetals based tunable narrowband absorber at terahertz frequencies

In this paper, a bulk Dirac semimetals (BDSs) based tunable narrowband absorber at terahertz frequencies is proposed and it has the attractive property of being polarization-independent at normal incidence because of its 90° rotational symmetry. Numerical results show that the absorption bandwidth is about 1.469e-2 THz and the total quality factor Q, defined as Q = f0/Δf, reaches about 94.6, which can be attributed to the low power loss of the guided mode resonance in the dielectric layer. The simulation results are analyzed with coupled mode theory. Interestingly, on the premise of maintaining the absorbance at a level greater than 0.95, the absorption frequency can be tuned from 1.381 to 1.395 THz by varying the Fermi energy of BDSs from 50 to 80 meV. Our results may also provide potential applications in optical filter and bio-chemical sensing.

Perfect Plasmon-Induced Absorption and Its Application for Multi-Switching in Simple Plasmonic System

The perfect plasmon-induced absorption (PIA) effect is achieved in a simple plasmonic system, composed of two rectangle cavities side-coupled to the metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguide with a barrier. The transmission properties of the system are calculated by the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method and theoretically explained by the three-level plasmonic system. More interestingly, the broadband absorption window will be splitted into double windows by adding another rectangle cavity resonator, and the physical mechanism is presented. At the same time, multi-switching effect is also discovered. Undoubtedly, the proposed novel structures have potential application in highly integrated optical circuit and can be simply fabricated.