Temperature effect on plasmon dispersions in double-layer graphene systems

We investigate the plasmon dispersion relation and damping rate of a double-layer graphene system consisting of two separated monolayer graphenes with no interlayer tunneling at finite temperature. We use the temperature dependent RPA dielectric function which is valid for graphene systems to obtain the plasmon frequencies and damping rates at different temperatures, interlayer correlation parameters and electron densities and then compare them with those obtained from the zero temperature calculations. Our results show that by increasing the temperature, the plasmon frequencies decrease and the decay rate increases. Furthermore, we find that the behavior of a double-layer graphene system at small and large correlation parameters is different from the conventional double-layer two-dimensional electron gas system. Finally, we obtain that in a density imbalanced double-layer graphene system, the acoustic plasmons are more affected by temperature than the equal electron densities one.     

Chiral optical Tamm states at the boundary of the medium with helical symmetry of the dielectric tensor

We report the observation of photovoltage oscillations in back-gated two-dimensional electron systems when tuning the density under incident microwaves and in the absence of a magnetic field. The oscillations are periodic in the inverse of the square root of the density. They originate from the interference of screened bulk plasmons with a linear dispersion. This phenomenon can be exploited to devise a spectrometer-on-a-chip for millimeter waves. The influence of a perpendicular magnetic field is investigated and reveals a transformation of screened bulk plasmons waves into screened edge magnetoplasmons.     

Elementary excitations in multiple quantum wire structures

We calculate the plasmon dispersion of electrons in multiple quantum wire structures. Wave function overlapping effects between different wires are neglected. The Coulomb interaction potential is calculated for a model with circular wire area. Analytical results for the excitation spectrum of electron multiple quantum wire structures are obtained within an one-subband model. Landau damping of intrasubband plasmons is discussed. Results for an electron superlattice within a two-subband model are presented and the coupling of intersubband plasmons with intrasubband plasmons is calculated. We compare the theoretical results with recent Raman measurements of intrasubband plasmons in Al _x Ga_1–x As/GaAs wire superlattices. The plasmon dispersion for boson multiple quantum wire structures also is calculated.     

Instability of layered quantum liquids: 5. Collective modes at low density

We calculate the plasmon dispersion of electron superlattices by taking into account many-body effects via the local-field correction. For small electron density we find a weak roton structure in the dispersion of optical plasmons. Landau damping is strongly enhanced by many-body effects, especially for acoustical plasmons. We compare with experimental results of high-T _c superconductors. Some experiments are suggested.     

Propagating anti-symmetrically coupled plasmons generation by electron beams

Propagating anti-symmetrically coupled plasmons that usually cannot be excited with incident light and radiate to far field can be efficiently generated by electron beams. An electron beam is proposed as a practical propagating anti-symmetrically coupled plasmon source due to that it couples differently to the surface plasmons than free radiation. Specifically, whispering-gallery anti-symmetrically coupled plasmons with the character of symmetrical coupled dipoles are excited by an electron beam in a nested ringlike waveguide, which is consistent with the dispersion of electron excited plasmons in an infinite-long nanowire pair.     

Spin-plasmon oscillations of the two-dimensional electron gas

Interaction of the spins of 2D electrons with an alternating electric field in the plane of the system is considered. It is assumed that the double spin degeneracy is eliminated by the spin-orbit splitting. It is shown that transitions between different spin states produce a narrow absorption band in the degenerate electron gas. In the frequency domain corresponding to these transitions, those frequencies are combined with two-dimensional plasmons; as a result, the plasmon spectrum is modified, and a new type of oscillations occurs, namely, a spin-plasmon polariton. The dispersion law of these oscillations is derived. The problem of the excitation of spin-plasmon polaritons by an external electromagnetic field is solved.     

One-dimensional plasmon in an atomic-scale metal wire

We have measured one-dimensional (1D) plasmons in an atom wire array on the Si(557)-Au surface by inelastic scattering of a highly collimated slow electron beam. The angular dependence of the excitation energy clearly indicates the strong 1D confinement and free propagation of the plasma wave along the wire. The observed plasmon dispersion is explained very well by a quantum-mechanical scheme which takes into account dynamic exchange-correlation effects, interwire interactions, and spin-orbit splitting of the 1D bands. Although the qualitative feature of the plasmon dispersion is reminiscent of that of a high-density free-electron gas, we detected the substantial influence of electron correlation due to strong 1D confinement.     

Refractive and reflective behavior of polymer prisms used for surface plasmon guidance

Two-dimensional optics with surface plasmons was realized by the use of topographically structured dielectric polymer coatings. Triangles of polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) with lateral dimensions of some tens of micrometers on top of a silver layer act as two-dimensional prisms for surface plasmons. Refraction and internal reflection of plasmons were investigated by scanning near-field optical microscopy. The change in propagation direction can be explained by Snell's law when taking an effective refractive index for plasmons into account. Furthermore, intensity modulations in the PMMA elements and in the transmitted plasmon beam were observed.     

Plasma waves in a two-dimensional electron system laterally screened by a metallic gate

The dispersion of magnetoplasma and plasma excitations in two-dimensional electron systems, whose edges are formed by a voltage applied to a metallic gate, has been studied. A substantial decrease in the plasma wave frequency as compared to the plasma frequency measured in the etched mesas with the same geometry, size, and electron density has been observed. The dependence of the observed frequency softening on the structure size has been studied and the laterally screened plasma excitation has been shown to violate the square-root dispersion relation.     

Edge plasmon polaritons on a half-plane

The effect of electromagnetic retardation on the spectrum of edge plasmons in a semi-infinite two-dimensional electron system is considered. The problem is reduced to complicated integral equations for the potentials, which are solved upon a major simplification of the kernel. The spatial distribution of the potentials, charges, and currents is analyzed. It is shown that edge plasmon polaritons in the high-conductivity two-dimensional system are characterized by a high Q factor at all frequencies, including those lower than the reciprocal electron relaxation time τ^-1.     

Plasmaschwingungen in Al,Mg, Li,Na und K angeregt durch schnelle Elektronen

We report on energy loss experiments with 50 keV electrons transmitted through thin films of the metals Al, Mg, Li, Na, and K. The valence electrons of these materials behave like a gas of free electrons to a good approximation and, in particular, give rise to significant collective effects. Since these substances oxidize rapidly they were evaporated and studied in ultra high vacuum. The apparatus and the measurement technique are described. Measurements of loss spectra for different electron scattering angles yield the volume plasmon dispersion curve and the dependence of the damping of the volume plasmon on the wave vector. New experimental values of the energy and the half width of the plasma oscillations and the coefficients of dispersion and damping are given. In addition, the results of some measurements on surface plasmons are presented. There are significant deviations from the predictions of the simple electron gas model.     

The interaction between an electron and the polarization modes of a metal-insulator interface

We study the interaction between an electron and the polarization modes of a metal-insulator interface by employing a self-energy approach. The coupling between the metal surface plasmons and the insulator surface excitons is explicitly considered. The surface optical phonons are shown to be screened out by the plasmon field. We derive expressions for the charge-coupling Hamiltonians of the bulk and interface modes and calculate a self-energy profile that includes recoil effects due to the quantum nature of the electron's motion.     

Surface plasmon dispersion in simple metals: a sum rule approach

The local density functional theory and the moment sum rule method are used to calculate the momentum dispersion of surface plasmons in simple metals represented by the stabilized-jellium model. The crystal lattice effects incorporated by this model are found to increase the plasmon frequency of high electron density metals for larger wave vector. Results for the stabilized jellium are compared with experimental data and previous jellium calculations performed by using the sum rule technique and/or the time-dependent local density approach.     

Localization of Plasmons in Finite Three-Tile Quasiperiodic superlattices

The plasmons in a finite array of coupled two-dimensional electron gases arranged in a threetile quasiperiodic sequence are studied. We calculate the dispersion relation and investigate the localization of the plasmons. For a given in-plane wavevector the discrete modes form a series of bands. Extended and localized modes may coexist in the three-tile quasiperiodic superlattices. The plasmons in low frequency bands are localized. Extended modes appear in the middle bands. Some Tamm-like surface modes are found.     

A Kirchhoff solution to plasmon hybridization

Using Ohm’s law, a solution to plasmon hybridization via Kirchoff’s equations results in a simple and intuitive picture of a metal nanoparticle dimer as a capacitively coupled circuit. Calculated absorption spectra and surface charge densities show that dimers of different metallic composition support different super- and sub-radiant plasmons compared to homodimers. Strong screening of Coulomb interactions between nanoparticles of different metallic background prohibits the excitation of anti-bonding plasmons, while changes to the free electron conductivity upon a collective response result in coupled plasmon lifetimes which shift as a function of interparticle distance. Smaller separations then result in the longest lived plasmons.     

Transverse plasmon in two-dimensional electrons

We calculated the retarded transverse current-current response function of an ideal two-dimensional electron gas and obtained a dispersion relation for the transverse plasmon in the system.     

Dispersion and damping of a two-dimensional plasmon in a metallic surface-state band.

We have studied, for the first time, the energy and the linewidth dispersion of a plasmon in a dense two-dimensional electron system in a metallic surface-state band on a silicon surface. As expected from the considerably high effective density and long Fermi wavelength of the system, the plasmon energy dispersion exhibited an excellent agreement with the nearly free-electron theory. However, in a small wave number region below the Landau edge, we have observed an anomalous linewidth dispersion which nearly free-electron theories do not predict.     

Minigap plasmons in a two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a one-dimensional periodic potential

We investigate the plasmon excitations in a two-dimensional electron gas subjected to a one-dimensional weak periodic potential. We derive and discuss the dispersion relations for both intrasubband and intersubband excitations within the framework of Bohm-Pines' random-phase approximation. For such an anisotropic system with spatially modulated charge density, we observe a splitting of the 2D plasmon dispersion. The splitting is caused by the superlattice effect of the charge-density modulation on the collective excitation spectrum. We also discuss how the tunneling and the potential amplitude affect the plasmon excitations.     

Infrared Optical Absorptions in Corrugated Lateral Surface Superlattices

The optical properties are investigated numerically in infrared (IR) regions for GaAs/AIAs corrugated lateral surface superlattices (CLSSLs) with short lateral periods. The calculations are carried out for refractive indexes and optical absorption coefficients with and without inclusion of electron interactions in an attempt to study the effects of intersubbahd plasmons on the IR optical properties of CLSSLs. As lateral periods of CLSSLs increase from 10 nm to 30 nm, their IR optical properties change from the behavior dominated by single electron transitions between conduction subbands to those dominated by intersubband plasmon excitations. Strong and sharp peaks in the optical absorption coefficients, large variations of the refractive indexes and strong anisotropic optical properties of CLSSLs are predicted in IR regions.