Renormalization of nanoparticle polarizability in the vicinity of a graphene-covered interface

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the electromagnetic coupling between nanoparticles and a graphene sheet at an interface alters the particles' polarizability, enabling enhanced surface plasmon excitation and absorption in the terahertz range.

Contribution

It introduces a model for the renormalization of nanoparticle polarizability due to coupling with graphene surface plasmons, revealing dispersive effects and potential for THz applications.

Findings

Polarizability is significantly renormalized near graphene surface plasmons.

The effect is prominent for metallic nanoparticles in the THz range.

Enhanced surface plasmon excitation and absorption can be achieved with metallic nanoparticle monolayers.

Abstract

We study the electromagnetic properties of a metamaterial consisting of polarizable (nano)particles and a single graphene sheet placed at the interface between two dielectrics. We show that the particle's polarizability is renormalized because of the electromagnetic coupling to surface plasmons supported by graphene, which results in a dispersive behavior, different for the polarizability components corresponding to the induced dipole moment, parallel and perpendicular to the graphene sheet. In particular, this effect is predicted to take place for a metallic particle whose bare polarizability in the terahertz (THz) region is practically equal to the cube of its radius (times $4\pi \varepsilon_0$). This opens the possibility to excite surface plasmons in graphene and enhance its absorption in the THz range by simply using a monolayer of metallic particles randomly deposited on top of it, as we show by explicit calculations.