arXiv subjects

G. Gómez-Santos

Publications and source records attributed to G. Gómez-Santos.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Roadmap for Photonics with 2D Materials

Triggered by the development of exfoliation and the identification of a wide range of extraordinary physical properties in self-standing films consisting of one or few atomic layers, two-dimensional (2D) materials such as graphene, transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs), and other van der Waals (vdW) crystals currently constitute a wide research field protruding in multiple directions in combination with layer stacking and twisting, nanofabrication, surface-science methods, and integration into nanostructured environments. Photonics encompasses a multidisciplinary collection of those directions, where 2D materials contribute with polaritons of unique characteristics such as strong spatial confinement, large optical-field enhancement, long lifetimes, high sensitivity to external stimuli (e.g., electric and magnetic fields, heating, and strain), a broad spectral range from the far infrared to the ultraviolet, and hybridization with spin and momentum textures of electronic band structures. The explosion of photonics with 2D materials as a vibrant research area is producing breakthroughs, including the discovery and design of new materials and metasurfaces with unprecedented properties as well as applications in integrated photonics, light emission, optical sensing, and exciting prospects for applications in quantum information, and nanoscale thermal transport. This Roadmap summarizes the state of the art in the field, identifies challenges and opportunities, and discusses future goals and how to meet them through a wide collection of topical sections prepared by leading practitioners.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2023

Neutral magic-angle bilayer graphene: Condon instability and chiral resonances

We discuss the full optical response of twisted bilayer graphene at the neutrality point close to the magic angle within the continuum model (CM). Firstly, we identify three different channels consistent with the underlying $D_3$ symmetry, yielding the total, magnetic, and chiral response. Secondly, we numerically calculate the full optical response in the immediate vicinity of the magic angle $θ_m$ which provides a direct mapping of the CM onto an effective two-band model. We, further, show that the ground-state of the CM in the immediate vicinity of $θ_m$ is unstable towards transverse current fluctuations, a so-called Condon instability. Thirdly, due to the large counterflow, the acoustic plasmonic excitations with typical wave numbers have larger energies than the optical ones and their energy density may be largely enhanced at certain frequencies which we denominate as {\it chiral resonances}. Finally, we discuss symmetry relations for the optical response and their consequences for the chiral response.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2021

Collective magnetic excitations in AA- and AB-stacked graphene bilayers

We discuss novel transverse plasmon-polaritons that are hosted by AA- and AB-stacked bilayer graphene due to perfect nesting. They are composed of oscillating counterflow currents in between the layers, giving a clear interpretation for these collective modes as magnetic excitations carrying magnetic moment parallel to the planes. For AA-stacked bilayer graphene, these modes can reach zero frequency at the neutrality point and we thus predict a symmetry broken ground-state leading to in-plane orbital ferromagnetism. Even though it could be hard to detect them in real solid-state devices, these novel magnetic plasmons should be observable in artificial set-ups such as optical lattices. Also, our results might be relevant for magic angle twisted bilayer graphene samples as their electronic properties are mostly determined by confined AA-stacked regions.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Plasmon-enhanced near-field chirality in twisted van der Waals heterostructures

It is shown that chiral plasmons, characterized by a longitudinal magnetic moment accompanying the longitudinal charge plasmon, lead to electromagnetic near-fields that are also chiral. For twisted bilayer graphene, we estimate that the near field chirality of screened plasmons can be several orders of magnitude larger than that of the related circularly polarized light. The chirality also manifests itself in a deflection angle that is formed between the direction of the plasmon propagation and its Poynting vector. Twisted van der Waals heterostructures might thus provide a novel platform to promote enantiomer-selective physio-chemical processes in chiral molecules without the application of a magnetic field or external nano-patterning that break time-reversal, mirror plane or inversion symmetry, respectively.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Change of chirality at magic angles of twisted bilayer graphene

We derive a simple formula for the real-space chirality of twisted bilayer graphene that can be related to the cross-product of its sheet currents. This quantity shows well-defined plateaus for the first remote band as function of the gate voltage which are approximately quantized for commensurate twist angles. The zeroth plateau corresponds to the first magic angle where a sign change occurs due to an emergent $C_6$-symmetry. Our observation offers a new definition of the magic angle based on a macroscopic observable which is accessible in typical transport experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Emergent magnetic texture in driven twisted bilayer graphene

The transport properties of a twisted bilayer graphene barrier are investigated for various twist angles. Remarkably, for small twist angles around the magic angle $θ_m \sim 1.05^{\circ}$, the local currents around the AA-stacked regions are strongly enhanced compared to the injected electron rate. Furthermore, the total and counterflow (magnetic) current patterns show high correlations in these regions, given rise to well-defined magnetic moments that form a magnetic Moiré superlattice. The orientation and magnitude of these magnetic moments changes as function of the gate voltage and possible implications for emergent spin-liquid behaviour are discussed.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2020

Non-local quantum effects in plasmons of graphene superlattices

By using a non-local, quantum mechanical response function we study graphene plasmons in a one-dimensional superlattice (SL) potential $V_0 \cos G_0x$. The SL introduces a quantum energy scale $E_G \sim \hbar v_F G_0$ associated to electronic sub-band transitions. At energies lower than $E_G$, the plasmon dispersion is highly anisotropic; plasmons propagate perpendicularly to the SL axis, but become damped by electronic transitions along the SL direction. These results question the validity of semiclassical approximations for describing low energy plasmons in periodic structures. At higher energies, the dispersion becomes isotropic and Drude-like with effective Drude weights related to the average of the absolute value of the local chemical potential. Full quantum mechanical treatment of the kinetic energy thus introduces non-local effects that delocalize the plasmons in the SL, making the system behave as a meta-material even near singular points where the charge density vanishes.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Unidirectional plasmonic edge modes on general two-dimensional materials

We investigate the field and spin-momentum coupling of edge plasmons hosted by general two-dimensional materials and identify sweet spots depending on the polarisation plane, ellipticity and the position of an electric dipole relative to the plane and edge. Exciting the dipole at these sweet spots by propagating light leads to uni-directional propagating edge plasmons or edge modes are totally suppressed. We also extent previous approximate treatments [A. Fetter Phys. Rev. B 32, 7676 (1985)] to include anisotropy and hyperbolic systems, elucidating its predictions for the existence of edge modes. A thorough assessment of the approximate description is carried out, comparing its spin-momentum coupling features in the near field with exact results from Wiener-Hopf techniques. Simulations are also performed confirming the overall picture. Our results shed new light on the quest of chiral plasmonics in 2D materials and should be relevant for future experiments.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Linear response of twisted bilayer graphene: continuum vs. tight-binding models

We present a linear response calculation for twisted bilayer graphene. The calculation is performed for both the continuum and tight-binding models, with the aim of assessing the validity of the former. All qualitatively important features previously reported by us [T. Stauber et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 046801 (2018)] for the Drude matrix in the continuum model are also present in the tight-binding calculation, with increasing quantitative agreement for decreasing twist angle. These features include the chiral longitudinal magnetic moment associated with plasmonic modes, and the anomalous counterflow around the neutrality point, better interpreted as a paramagnetic response. We have addressed the differences between Drude and equilibrium response, and shown that orbital paramagnetism is the equilibrium response to a parallel magnetic field over a substantial doping region around the neutrality point. Chirality also makes the equilibrium response to exhibit a non trivial current structure associated with the non-vertical character of interlayer bonds in the tight-binding calculation.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Plasmonics in topological insulators: Spin-charge separation, the influence of the inversion layer, and phonon-plasmon coupling

We demonstrate via three examples that topological insulators (TI) offer a new platform for plasmonics. First, we show that the collective excitations of a thin slab of a TI display spin-charge separation. This gives rise to purely charge-like optical and purely spin-like acoustic plasmons, respectively. Second, we argue that the depletion layer mixes Dirac and Schrödinger electrons which can lead to novel features such as high modulation depths and interband plasmons. The analysis is based on an extension of the usual formula for optical plasmons that depends on the slab width and on the dielectric constant of the TI. Third, we discuss the coupling of the TI surface phonons to the plasmons and find strong hybridisation especially for samples with large slab widths.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

Chiral response of twisted bilayer graphene

We present an effective (minimal) theory for chiral two-dimensional materials. These materials possess an electro-magnetic coupling without exhibiting a topological gap. As an example, we study the response of doped twisted bilayers, unveiling unusual phenomena in the zero frequency limit. An in-plane magnetic field induces a huge paramagnetic response at the neutrality point and, upon doping, also gives rise to a substantial longitudinal Hall response. The system also accommodates nontrivial longitudinal plasmonic modes which are associated with a longitudinal magnetic moment, thus endowing them with a chiral character. Finally, we note that the optical activity can be considerably enhanced upon doping.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2014

Extraordinary absorption of decorated undoped graphene

We theoretically study absorption by an undoped graphene layer decorated with arrays of small particles. We discuss periodic and random arrays within a common formalism, which predicts a maximum absorption of $50\%$ for suspended graphene in both cases. The limits of weak and strong scatterers are investigated and an unusual dependence on particle-graphene separation is found and explained in terms of the effective number of contributing evanescent diffraction orders of the array. Our results can be important to boost absorption by single layer graphene due to its simple setup with potential applications to light harvesting and photodetection based on energy (Förster) rather than charge transfer.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Spin-charge separation of plasmonic excitations in thin topological insulators

We discuss plasmonic excitations in a thin slab of a topological insulators. In the limit of no hybridization of the surface states and same electronic density of the two layers, the electrostatic coupling between the top and bottom layers leads to optical and acoustic plasmons which are purely charge and spin collective oscillations. We then argue that a recent experiment on the plasmonic excitations of Bi2Se3 [Di Pietro et al, Nat. Nanotechnol. 8, 556 (2013)] must be explained by including the charge response of the two-dimensional electron gas of the depletion layer underneath the two surfaces. We also present an analytic formula to fit their data.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Plasmons in layered structures including graphene

We investigate the optical properties of layered structures with graphene at the interface for arbitrary linear polarization at finite temperature including full retardation by working in the Weyl gauge. As a special case, we obtain the full response and the related dielectric function of a layered structure with two interfaces. We apply our results to discuss the longitudinal plasmon spectrum of several single and double layer devices such as systems with finite and zero electronic densities. We further show that a nonhomogeneous dielectric background can shift the relative weight of the in-phase and out-of-phase mode and discuss how the plasmonic mode of the upper layer can be tuned into an acoustic mode with specific sound velocity.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Graphene plasmons and retardation: strong light-matter coupling

We study the retardation regime of doped graphene plasmons, given by the nominal crossing of the unretarded plasmon and light-cone. In addition to modifications in the plasmon dispersion relation, retardation implies strong coupling between propagating light and matter, even for homogeneous graphene, which opens up the possibility of efficient plasmonics in simple graphene devices. We exemplify this enhancement in a double-layer configuration that exhibits {\em perfect} (if lossless) light transmissions across a classically forbidden region, providing a simpler analog of the corresponding phenomenon in perforated metal sheets. We also show that (broad) Fabry-Pérot resonances present without graphene turn into sharply peaked, quasi-discrete modes in the presence of graphene where graphene's response function is given by the typical Fano lineshape.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2012

Plasmons and near-field amplification in double-layer graphene

We study the optical properties of double-layer graphene for linearly polarized evanescent modes and discuss the in-phase and out-of-phase plasmon modes for both, longitudinal and transverse polarization. We find a energy for which reflection is zero, leading to exponentially amplified transmitted modes similar to what happens in left-handed materials. For layers with equal densities $n=10^{12}$cm$^{-2}$, we find a typical layer separation of $d\approx500μ$m to detect this amplification for transverse polarization which may serve as an indirect observation of transverse plasmons. When the two graphene layers lie on different chemical potentials, the exponential amplification either follows the in-phase or out-of-phase plasmon mode depending on the order of the low- and high-density layer. This opens up the possibility of a tunable near-field amplifier or switch.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Fluorescence quenching in graphene: a fundamental ruler and evidence for transverse plasmons

Graphene's fluorescence quenching is studied as a function of distance. Transverse decay channels, full retardation and graphene-field coupling to all orders are included, extending previous instantaneous results. For neutral graphene, a virtually exact analytical expression for the fluorescence yield is derived, valid for arbitrary distances and only based on the fine structure constant $α$, the fluorescent wavelength $λ$, and distance $z$. Thus graphene's fluorescence quenching measurements provide a fundamental distance ruler. For doped graphene and at appropriate energies, the fluorescence yield at large distances is dominated by transverse plasmons, providing a platform for their detection.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2011

Measurable lattice effects on the charge and magnetic response in graphene

The simplest tight-binding model is used to study lattice effects on two properties of doped graphene: i) magnetic orbital susceptibility and ii) regular Friedel oscillations, both suppressed in the usual Dirac cone approximation. i) An exact expression for the tight-binding magnetic susceptibility is obtained, leading to orbital paramagnetism in graphene for a wide range of doping levels which is relevant when compared with other contributions. ii) Friedel oscillations in the coarse-grained charge response are considered numerically and analytically and an explicit expression for the response to lowest order in lattice effects is presented, showing the restoration of regular 2d behavior, but with strong sixfold anisotropy.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗