Direct Optical Probing of Transverse Electric Mode in Graphene

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates the first direct optical detection of a transverse-electric mode in graphene, revealing its potential for photonics applications and characterization of graphene's unique electrodynamic properties.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental technique for directly probing the TE mode in graphene, overcoming previous excitation challenges.

Findings

Successful direct optical probing of TE mode in graphene

Significant coupling observed between incident wave and TE mode

Technique enables future studies and applications in photonics

Abstract

Unique electrodynamic response of graphene implies a manifestation of an unusual propagating and localised transverse-electric (TE) mode near the spectral onset of interband transitions. However, excitation and further detection of the TE mode supported by graphene is considered to be a challenge for it is extremely sensitive to excitation environment and phase matching condition adherence. Here for the first time, we experimentally prove an existence of the TE mode by its direct optical probing, demonstrating significant coupling to an incident wave in electrically doped multilayer graphene sheet at room temperature. We believe that proposed technique of careful phase matching and obtained access to graphene TE excitation would stimulate further studies of this unique phenomenon, and enable its potential employing in various fields of photonics as well as for characterization of graphene.