Strong Coupling in the Far-Infrared between Graphene Plasmons and the Surface Optical Phonons of Silicon Dioxide

Abstract

We study plasmonic resonances in electrostatically gated graphene nanoribbons on silicon dioxide substrates. Absorption spectra are measured in the mid-far-infrared and reveal multiple peaks, with width-dependent resonant frequencies. We calculate the dielectric function within the random phase approximation and show that the observed spectra can be explained by surface-plasmon–phonon–polariton modes, which arise from coupling of the graphene plasmon to three surface optical phonon modes in silicon dioxide.