Multi-frequency near-field enhancement with graphene-coated nano-disk homo-dimers.

Abstract

In this paper, a 3D sub-wavelength graphene-coated nano-disk dimer (GDD) is proposed for multi-frequency giant near-field enhancement. We observed that the dual-band operation originates from the excitation of hybridized localized surface plasmons on top and bottom faces of the disks along with the mutual coupling from the adjacent particle. Due to the sub-wavelength nature of the disks, the excited localized surface plasmons on the sidewalls are weak but they still can affect the dual operating bands. On the other hand, the strength and resonance frequency of the enhanced fields can be simply modulated by tuning the relative distances of 2D graphene disks on top and bottom faces. Adjustable dual-band performance is hardly attainable using simplified 2D graphene disks, however, it naturally comes out through modal hybridization in the subwavelength 3D structure containing multiple resonant units. Our suggested configuration has better optical properties than its noble metal counterparts because of its higher field enhancement and lower ohmic losses. Moreover, the electromagnetic response is reconfigurable by varying the bias voltage. The influence of graphene quality, chemical potential, and dimer gap size on the electric field enhancement and the resonance frequency of the surface plasmons are investigated, as well. To further improve its performance, a double negative metamaterial core is considered. This mechanism of the performance improvement by the core material is feasible thanks to the 3D nature of the structure. Two possible applications of the presented design are in Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) and optical absorbers.