Plasmonics with two-dimensional conductors

Abstract

A wealth of effort in photonics has been dedicated to the study and engineering of surface plasmonic waves in the skin of three-dimensional bulk metals, owing largely to their trait of subwavelength confinement. Plasmonic waves in two-dimensional conductors, such as semiconductor heterojunction and graphene, contrast the surface plasmonic waves on bulk metals, as the former emerge at gigahertz to terahertz and infrared frequencies well below the photonics regime and can exhibit far stronger subwavelength confinement. This review elucidates the machinery behind the unique behaviours of the two-dimensional plasmonic waves and discusses how they can be engineered to create ultra-subwavelength plasmonic circuits and metamaterials for infrared and gigahertz to terahertz integrated electronics