Perfect optical absorption in a single array of folded graphene ribbons.

Abstract

Due to its one atom thickness, optical absorption (OA) in graphene is a fundamental and challenging issue. Practically, the patterned graphene-dielectric-metal structure is commonly used to achieve perfect OA (POA). In this work, we propose a novel scenario to solve this issue, in which POA is obtained by using free-standing folded graphene ribbons (FGRs). We show several local resonances, e.g. a dipole state (Mode-I) and a bound state in continuum (BIC, Mode-II), will cause very efficient OA. At normal incidence, by choosing appropriate folding angle θ, 50% absorptance by the two states is easily achieved; at oblique incidence, the two states will result in roughly 98% absorptance as incidence angle φ≈40∘. It is also interesting to see that the system has asymmetric OA spectra, e.g. POA of the former (latter) state existing in reverse (forward) incidence, respectively. Besides the angles θ and φ, POA here can also be actively tuned by electrostatic gating. As increasing Fermi level, POA of Mode-I will undergo a gradual blueshift, while that of Mode-II will experience a rapid blueshift and then be divided into three branches, due to Fano coupling to two guided modes. In reality, the achieved POA is well maintained even the dielectric substrates are used to support FGRs. Our work offers a remarkable scenario to achieve POA, and thus enhance light-matter interaction in graphene, which can build an alternative platform to study novel optical effects in general two-dimensional (2D) materials. The folding, mechanical operation in out-of-plane direction, may emerge as a new degree of freedom for optoelectronic device applications based on 2D materials.