Electrically driven plasmon-polaritonic bistability in Dirac electron tunneling transistors

TL;DR

This paper reports the first experimental demonstration of electrically driven plasmon-polaritonic bistability in graphene-based tunneling transistors, enabling tunable nonlinear optical and electronic functionalities.

Contribution

It introduces a novel experimental realization of plasmon-polaritonic bistability in graphene heterostructures using momentum-conserving resonant tunneling.

Findings

Observed bistability in graphene/BN/graphene transistors.

Bistability can be tuned via load resistance and gating.

Demonstrated potential applications in optical memory and sensing.

Abstract

Bistability-two distinct stable states under identical parameter-is not only a fundamental physical concept but also of importance in practical applications. While plasmon-polaritonic bistability representing history-dependent stable states within plasmonic systems has been theoretically predicted, it has yet to be demonstrated experimentally due to challenges in realizing suitable nonlinearity at feasible electric-field strengths. Here, we report the experimental observation of electrically driven plasmon-polaritonic bistability in graphene/hexagonal-boron-nitride/graphene tunneling transistors, achieved through momentum-conserving resonant tunneling of Dirac electrons. Using a small twist angle between graphene layers, we engineered devices exhibiting both electronic and plasmon-polaritonic bistability. This bistable plasmonic behavior can be precisely tuned through load resistance and electrostatic gating. Our findings open new pathways for exploring nonlinear optical and electronic phenomena in van der Waals heterostructures and mark a significant advance in nanoplasmonics, with potential applications in optical memory, sensing, and optoelectronic switching.