Quantum plasmonic excitation in graphene and robust-to-loss propagation

TL;DR

This paper explores quantum plasmonic excitations in graphene, demonstrating efficient photon coupling and robust quantum state propagation despite losses, with potential for quantum information transfer.

Contribution

It introduces a quantum mechanical model for graphene SPPs and shows quantum error correction can protect quantum states during propagation.

Findings

Efficient photon-to-SPP coupling at the quantum level

Quantum error correction enhances robustness against loss

Quantum states can be transferred over large distances in graphene

Abstract

We investigate the excitation of quantum plasmonic states of light in graphene using end-fire and prism coupling. In order to model the excitation process quantum mechanically we quantize the transverse-electric and transverse-magnetic surface plasmon polariton (SPP) modes in graphene. A selection of regimes are then studied that enable the excitation of SPPs by photons and we show that efficient coupling of photons to graphene SPPs is possible at the quantum level. Futhermore, we study the excitation of quantum states and their propagation under the effects of loss induced from the electronic degrees of freedom in the graphene. Here, we investigate whether it is possible to protect quantum information using quantum error correction techniques. We find that these techniques provide a robust-to-loss method for transferring quantum states of light in graphene over large distances.