Photonic and plasmonic guiding modes in graphene-silicon photonic crystals

TL;DR

This paper investigates how graphene interacts with silicon photonic crystal substrates, revealing four regimes of guiding modes that can enhance infrared absorption for various optoelectronic applications.

Contribution

It systematically studies plasmonic and photonic guiding modes in graphene on nanostructured silicon, identifying regimes and optimizing designs for improved device performance.

Findings

Four distinct interaction regimes depending on lattice constant and wavelength

Resonant modes can significantly enhance graphene absorption in infrared

Optimized substrate design enables efficient modulators, filters, sensors, and photodetectors

Abstract

We report systematic studies of plasmonic and photonic guiding modes in large-area chemical-vapor-deposition-grown graphene on nanostructured silicon substrates. Light interaction in graphene with substrate photonic crystals can be classified into four distinct regimes depending on the photonic crystal lattice constant and the various modal wavelengths (i.e. plasmonic, photonic and free-space). By optimizing the design of the substrate, these resonant modes can magnify the graphene absorption in infrared wavelength, for efficient modulators, filters, sensors and photodetectors on silicon photonic platforms.