Dispersion characteristics of THz surface plasmons in nonlinear graphene-based parallel-plate waveguide with Kerr-type core dielectric

Abstract

We theoretically model the dispersion characteristics of surface plasmons in a graphene-based parallel-plate waveguide geometry using nonlinear Kerr-type core (inter-plate) dielectric. The optical nonlinearity of graphene in the terahertz band under high light intensity is specifically included in the analysis. By solving Maxwell's equations and applying appropriate boundary conditions, we show that the waveguide supports four guided plasmon modes, each of which can be categorized as either symmetric or anti-symmetric based on the electric field distribution in the structure. Of the four guided modes, two modes are similar in characteristics to the modes obtained in the structure with linear graphene coating, while the two new modes have distinct characteristics as a result of the nonlinearity of graphene. We note that the group velocity of one of the plasmon modes acquires a negative value under high light intensity. Additionally, the optical nonlinearity of the core dielectric leads to a significant enhancement in the localization length of various plasmon modes. The description of the intra-band optical conductivity of graphene incorporates effects of carrier scatterings due to charged impurities, resonant scatterers, and acoustic phonons at 300 K. The proposed structure offers flexibility to tune the waveguide characteristics and the mode index by changing light intensity and electrochemical potential in graphene for reconfigurable plasmonic devices.