Controlling graphene plasmons with resonant metal antennas and spatial conductivity patterns

Abstract

A controlled launch for plasmons To create nanophotonic devices, engineers must combine large-scale optics with tiny nanoelectronics. Plasmons, the collective light-induced excitations of electrons at a metal's surface, can bridge that difference in size scales. Alonso-Gonzalez et al. placed structured gold “antennas” on top of a graphene layer to launch and propagate plasmonic excitations into the graphene. By carefully designing the antennas, the researchers could engineer the wavefronts of the plasmons and control the direction of propagation. This approach illustrates a versatile approach for the development of nanophotonics. Science , this issue p. 1369