• 文献标题:   Nanofocusing of acoustic graphene plasmon polaritons for enhancing mid-infrared molecular fingerprints
  • 文献类型:   Article
  • 作  者:   VORONIN KV, AGUIRRECHE UA, HILLENBRAND R, VOLKOV VS, ALONSOGONZALEZ P, NILDTIN AY
  • 作者关键词:   graphene plasmon, molecular sensing, nanofocusing
  • 出版物名称:   NANOPHOTONICS
  • ISSN:   2192-8606 EI 2192-8614
  • 通讯作者地址:   Donostia Int Phys Ctr DIPC
  • 被引频次:   2
  • DOI:   10.1515/nanoph-2020-0164
  • 出版年:   2020

▎ 摘  要

Mid-infrared (mid-IR) optical spectroscopy of molecules is of large interest in physics, chemistry, and biology. However, probing nanometric volumes of molecules is challenging because of the strong mismatch of their mid-infrared absorption and scattering cross-sections with the free-space wavelength. We suggest overcoming this difficulty by nanofocusing acoustic graphene plasmon polaritons (AGPs) - oscillations of Dirac charge carriers coupled to electromagnetic fields with extremely small wavelengths - using a taper formed by a graphene sheet above a metallic surface. We demonstrate that due to the appreciable field enhancement and mode volume reduction, the nanofocused AGPs can efficiently sense molecular fingerprints in nanometric volumes. We illustrate a possible realistic sensing scenario based on AGP interferometry performed with a near-field microscope. Our results can open new avenues for designing tiny sensors based on graphene and other 2D polaritonic materials.