By P A D Gonçalves and N M R Peres
World Scientific
Graphene plasmonics is a fast-developing area of research, for which no textbook yet exists. Previous books on plasmonics have focused on the use of conventional metals, while scientific articles on graphene plasmonics present the subject in a fragmented and not very pedagogical way. This book aims to fill this gap in the scientific literature.
A plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation – the minimum amount of oscillations of the electron density in conductive media. The world “plasmonics” is used to refer to the transfer of information through nanoscale structures by means of surface plasmons, which are plasmons – confined to the surface – that can be excited by photons and electrons.
In 2011 it was demonstrated that plasmonic effects in graphene (which is a two-dimensional material, therefore all surface) could be controlled optically by shining electromagnetic radiation onto a periodic grid of graphene micro-ribbons. This was the start of a new and intriguing branch of research at the interface between condensed-matter physics and photonics.
The authors have aimed to make their book as self-contained as possible, so they discuss all of the relevant aspects of the topic. Starting from graphene’s electronic properties, and plasmonics at metal–dielectric interfaces and in metal thin films, the book gradually dives into the field of graphene plasmonics. Several chapters are dedicated to different methods of inducing surface plasmon polaritons in this material, and there are appendices that give calculations and in-depth analysis on some of the topics covered.
The book is intended both for students of and newcomers to the field, but it could also be a reference for researchers already working on graphene plasmonics.
