Plasmonic waveguides in two-dimensional materials: a quantum mechanical description using semiclassical techniques

TL;DR

This paper develops a semi-analytical, semiclassical theory to describe quantum plasmons in two-dimensional materials, revealing mechanisms for waveguiding via total internal reflection and dielectric environment variation.

Contribution

The authors introduce a novel semiclassical approach to model plasmonic waveguides in inhomogeneous systems, bridging quantum and classical descriptions.

Findings

Identified two waveguiding mechanisms: total internal reflection and dielectric variation.

Derived an effective Hamiltonian based on the Lindhard function for inhomogeneous systems.

Provided a theoretical basis aligning with previous numerical studies.

Abstract

Plasmons are likely to play an important role in integrated photonic ciruits, because they strongly interact with light and can be confined to subwavelength scales. These plasmons can be guided and controlled by plasmonic waveguides, which can be created by patterning different materials or by structuring the dielectric environment. We have constructed a semi-analytical theory to describe plasmonic waveguides, and, more generally, plasmons in spatially inhomogeneous systems. Our theory employs techniques from semiclassical analysis, and is therefore applicable when the electron wavelength is much smaller than the characteristic length scale of changes in the system parameters. We obtain an effective classical Hamiltonian that describes the dynamics of quantum plasmons, given by the Lindhard function with spatially varying parameters. Adding the wave-like character of the plasmons to the classical trajectories generated by this Hamiltonian, we find two different mechanisms for waveguiding. In the first case, a localized plasmonic state arises due to total internal reflection similar to photonic waveguides. The second mechanism relies on a varying dielectric environment, which locally modifies the screening of the electrons. Here, a quasi-localized state arises due to local changes in the amplitude of the plasmonic excitation. Our results provide a solid basis to understand previous numerical studies.