Terahertz optical bistability of graphene-coated cylindrical core\u2013shell nanoparticles

Abstract

In this study, we investigate the optical bistability of graphene-coated nanoparticles with cylindrical core–shell structure at terahertz frequency, because graphene displays optical bistability and multistability in a broad range of incident optical intensity. The choice of core–shell system is due to its larger local electric field enhancement, where this characteristic is important for the optical bistable systems. This optical bistability strongly depends on the geometry of the nanoparticle, the fractional volume of the metallic core as well as Fermi energy of graphene. The surrounding medium could also finely affect the optical bistability and induce switching from optical bistability to optical tristability. Since the prosperity of optoelectronics properties of graphene and the importance of core–shell nanoparticles have attracted enormous interest, this model may find potential applications in optical bistable devices such as all-optical switches and biosensors at terahertz communication in near future.