Fluorescence quenching in graphene: a fundamental ruler and evidence for transverse plasmons

TL;DR

This paper derives an analytical expression for fluorescence quenching in graphene, showing it can serve as a fundamental distance ruler and enabling detection of transverse plasmons at large distances.

Contribution

It extends previous models by including full retardation and all-order graphene-field coupling, providing a comprehensive analytical formula for fluorescence yield.

Findings

Graphene fluorescence quenching depends on distance and can be used as a fundamental ruler.

Transverse plasmons dominate fluorescence yield at large distances in doped graphene.

The derived formula is valid for arbitrary distances and depends only on fundamental constants and parameters.

Abstract

Graphene's fluorescence quenching is studied as a function of distance. Transverse decay channels, full retardation and graphene-field coupling to all orders are included, extending previous instantaneous results. For neutral graphene, a virtually exact analytical expression for the fluorescence yield is derived, valid for arbitrary distances and only based on the fine structure constant $\alpha$, the fluorescent wavelength $\lambda$, and distance $z$. Thus graphene's fluorescence quenching measurements provide a fundamental distance ruler. For doped graphene and at appropriate energies, the fluorescence yield at large distances is dominated by transverse plasmons, providing a platform for their detection.