Exciting graphene surface plasmon polaritons through light and sound interplay

Abstract

We propose a concept that allows for efficient excitation of surface plasmon spolaritons (SPPs) on a thin graphene sheet located on a substrate by an incident electromagnetic field. Elastic vibrations of the sheet, which are generated by a flexural wave, act as a grating that enables the electromagnetic field to couple to propagating graphene SPPs. This scheme permits fast on-off switching of the SPPs and dynamic tuning of their excitation frequency by adjusting the vibration frequency (grating period). Potential applications include single molecule detection and enhanced control of SPP trajectories via surface wave patterning of graphene metasurfaces. Analytical calculations and numerical experiments demonstrate the practical applicability of the proposed concept. © 2013 American Physical Society.