Hybrid Graphene-Plasmonic Gratings to Achieve Enhanced Nonlinear Effects at Terahertz Frequencies

Abstract

High input intensities are usually required to efficiently excite optical nonlinear effects in ultrathin structures. This problem is particularly critical at terahertz (THz) frequencies because high input power THz sources are not available. The demonstration of enhanced nonlinear effects at THz frequencies is particularly important since these nonlinear mechanisms promise to play a significant role in the development and design of new reconfigurable planar THz nonlinear devices. In this work, we present a novel class of ultrathin nonlinear hybrid planar THz devices based on graphene-covered plasmonic gratings exhibiting very large nonlinear response. The robust localization and enhancement of the electric field along the graphene monolayer, combined with the large nonlinear conductivity of graphene, can lead to boosted third harmonic generation (THG) and four-wave mixing (FWM) nonlinear processes at THz frequencies. These interesting nonlinear effects exhibit very high nonlinear conversion efficiencies and are triggered by realistic input intensities with relative low values. In addition, the THG and FWM processes can be significantly tuned by the dimensions of the proposed hybrid structures, the doping level of graphene, or the input intensity values, whereas the nonlinear radiated power remains relatively insensitive to the incident angle of the excitation source. The presented nonlinear hybrid graphene-covered plasmonic gratings have a relative simple geometry and can be used to realize efficient third-order THz effects with a limited fabrication complexity. Several new nonlinear THz devices are envisioned based on the proposed hybrid nonlinear structures, such as frequency generators, all-optical signal processors, and wave mixers. These devices are expected to be useful for nonlinear THz spectroscopy, noninvasive THz subwavelength imaging, and THz communication applications.