Theory of Graphene-based Plasmonic Switch

Abstract: We have theoretically studied a graphene-based plasmonic waveguide, which can gate the transmission of a surface plasmon polariton (SPP) localized at the graphene-semiconductor interface. When a gate voltage is applied above a certain critical value, the charge density modulation in the quasi two-dimensional electron gas formed in the inversion layer can induce a local plasma resonance. Since the local plasma resonance is strongly coupled to the SPP, it can suppress the transmission of the SPP. By calculating the propagation length of the SPP with varying gate voltage, we have obtained the sharp switching line shape. We have demonstrated that the wavelength of the SPP can be reduced below ~1/100 of that of an incident light and the propagation length of the SPP can be significantly reduced by a factor of ~15 upon switching. This ensures that our plasmonic waveguide can operate effectively as a plasmonic switch for the SPP.