Graphene plasmon enhanced vibrational sensing of surface-adsorbed layers

Yilei Li, Hugen Yan, Damon B. Farmer, Xiang Meng, Wenjuan Zhu, Richard M. Osgood, Tony F. Heinz, Phaedon Avouris

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We characterize the influence of graphene nanoribbon plasmon excitation on the vibrational spectra of surface-absorbed polymers. As the detuning between the graphene plasmon frequency and a vibrational frequency of the polymer decreases, the vibrational peak intensity first increases and is then transformed into a region of narrow optical transparency as the frequencies overlap. Examples of this are provided by the carbonyl vibration in thin films of poly(methyl methacrylate) and polyvinylpyrrolidone. The signal depth of the plasmon-induced transparency is found to be 5 times larger than that of light attenuated by the carbonyl vibration alone. The plasmon-vibrational mode coupling and the resulting fields are analyzed using both a phenomenological model of electromagnetically coupled oscillators and finite-difference time-domain simulations. It is shown that this coupling and the resulting absorption enhancement can be understood in terms of near-field electromagnetic interactions.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1573-1577
Number of pages5
JournalNano letters
Volume14
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 12 2014
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Graphene
  • enhancement
  • induced transparency
  • infrared spectroscopy
  • plasmons
  • polymers
  • vibrations

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Bioengineering
  • General Chemistry
  • General Materials Science
  • Condensed Matter Physics
  • Mechanical Engineering

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