Asymmetrical plasmon reflections in tapered graphene ribbons with wrinkle edges

Asymmetrical graphene plasmon reflection patterns are found in infrared near-field images of tapered graphene ribbons epitaxially grown on silicon carbon substrates. Comparing experimental data with numerical simulations, the asymmetry of these patterns is attributed to reflection of plasmons by wrinkled edges naturally grown in the graphene. These graphene wrinkles are additional plasmon reflectors with varying optical conductivity, which act as nanometer scale plasmonic modulators and thus have potential applications in photoelectric information detectors, transmitters, and modulators.     

Nano-infrared imaging of localized plasmons in graphene nano-resonators

We conduct in-situ near-field imaging of propagating and localized plasmons(cavity and dipole modes) in graphene nano-resonator. Compared with propagating graphene plasmons, the localized modes show twofold near-field amplitude and high volume confining ability(~ 10~6). The cavity resonance and dipole mode of graphene plasmons can be effectively controlled through optical method. Furthermore, our numerical simulation shows quantitative agreement with experimental measurements. The results provide insights into the nature of localized graphene plasmons and demonstrate a new way to study the localization of polaritons in Van der Waals materials.